Israel accepts cease-fire with Hamas in Gaza as quiet reigns in south
In parallel, Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh issued a statement signaling that the organization was interested in tamping down the escalation.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: NOVEMBER 13, 2018 19:20Missiles from Israel's Iron Dome air defence system in the south of Israel destroy incoming missiles fired at Israel from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza above Ashkelon on November 13, 2018(photo credit: GIL COHEN MAGEN / AFP)
After meeting for some six hours on Tuesday, the security cabinet accepted a cease-fire arrangement to end the confrontation between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.Despite the statement that a cease-fire has been reached, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett rushed to distance themselves from reports that they had supported the cease-fire and the cessation of IDF attacks against Hamas."The recent reports that Bennett supported the cease-fire with Hamas are a complete lie, and Bennett presented the firm position he expressed in recent months and his plan for Gaza," Bennet's Spokesperson's said.Among those who took part in the meeting were IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, Mossad head Yossi Cohen and Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit.In parallel, Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh issued a statement signaling that the organization was interested in tamping down the escalation. KAN Bet reported the statement as saying that “if the occupation will stop its aggressive action it will be possible to return to the cease-fire understandings.”Egypt and the UN had brokered the understandings that would restore the situation in the South to what it was before weekly rioting along the Gaza border fence which had started in March. Those understandings, which included Qatar’s transferring $15 million over the weekend to Gaza to pay salaries, unraveled on Sunday after an IDF intelligence-gathering operation inside Gaza went awry, leading to one IDF officer and seven Palestinians killed.
