Gaza: Even as a long-term ceasefire for 'unlimited time' was agreed by both the warring sides after 50 days of cross-border violence, there are conflicting voices arising over who out of Hamas and Israel, turned victorious.
Though Israel remained cautious, not speaking much about the truce, Hamas hailed the ceasefire as “victory of the resistance”.
Blaming the Palestinian militants for delaying the truce, Israeli government spokesperson Mark Regev tweeted an Al Jazeera post that said that Israel had accepted the same framework much earlier on July 15 and “Had Hamas accepted it then much bloodshed would have been avoided”.
AlJazeera: Israel accepted this framework on 7/15. Had Hamas accepted it then much bloodshed would have been avoided. http://t.co/hriEkiTkea
— Mark Regev (@MarkRegevPMO) August 26, 2014
Hamas on the other hand sounded jubilant over the “victory”, with its spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri saying, "Today we declare the victory of the resistance, today we declare the victory of Gaza”.
Hailing Hamas' “victory of resistance”, Iran issued a sharp-worded statement that said that the heroic Palestinian militants had brought Israel to “its knees”.
"The heroic Palestinian people have forged a new era with the victory of the resistance which has brought the Zionist regime to its knees," the AFP quoted Iranian foreign ministry as saying.
"This victory prepares the way for the final liberation of all the occupied lands especially Quds (Jerusalem)," it added.
But an article in Jerusalem Post sought to convey just the opposite, explaining “How Israel made Hamas crawl to a cease-fire in Gaza”.
Thankfully, unaware of this dilemma over who turned victorious, the residents in Gaza ventured out of their homes to celebrate the end of strikes, and Israelis too are getting back to normalcy as they haven't heard a siren since yesterday.
The ceasefire that came after marathon discussions held by the delegations of both sides in Cairo, took hold at 1600 GMT on Tuesday and is said to be for 'unlimitd time', triggering celebrations in and around the Gaza Strip.
Israel has agreed to Egyptian proposal for ceasefire that will be unlimited in time.
— Israel Foreign Min. (@IsraelMFA) August 26, 2014
Israel started Operation Protective Edge on July 8 and in 50 days of violence 2,139 Palestinian people lost their lives, according to Gazan health ministry.
Israel lost 70 lives, out of which 64 were soldiers and remaining six were civilians.
