ISRAEL-MIDEAST-GAZA/BORDER RESIDENTS Israelis who live near Gaza border fear renewal of hostilities

Record ID: 398690

  • Title: ISRAEL-MIDEAST-GAZA/BORDER RESIDENTS Israelis who live near Gaza border fear renewal of hostilities
  • Date: 27th August 2014
  • Summary: ASHKELON, ISRAEL (AUGUST 27, 2014) (REUTERS) PEOPLE IN COFFEE SHOP ISRAELIS READING NEWSPAPER
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9ZP6FM2NN4SXTRCH8XRU5MN1Y
  • Story Text: Israelis who live near Gaza border voiced mixed feelings Wednesday (August 27) as a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians aimed at ending their seven-week conflict in the coastal enclave appeared to be holding.
    In Ashkelon, a city which has been attacked by Palestinian militants' rockets, some residents criticised the truce.
    In the 50 days of combat 64 Israeli soldiers and six civilians were killed.
    "I mourn the 70 (Israeli) dead, who were killed in vain. I'm ashamed that my government gave in, raised a white flag and surrendered to a group of terrorists that don't have aeroplanes, tanks or an organised army, who taught the Israeli government a lesson. The government surrendered to terrorism. Simply surrendered to terrorism. The next round (of violence) - which will be harder and more painful - is near. It's a matter of six months, no more," said Resident Nisim Pur Moshe.
    Another resident, Shay Cohen, said that he is happy with the ceasefire.
    "We hope it will end, and we hope it will be quiet now, especially for the children. They are very nervous about the situation. And we believe now is the truth ceasefire and will be totally quite and we believe it's best thing for Israel," he said.
    No clear victor emerged from what had become a war of attrition between the Middle East's most powerful armed forces and the dominant Hamas militant movement in the Gaza Strip.
    Exacting a heavy toll in Palestinian lives and property, Israel said it dealt a strong blow to Hamas, killing several of its military leaders and destroying the group's cross-border infiltration tunnels.
    More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed.
    But Israel also faced persistent rocket fire for nearly two months that caused an exodus from a number of border communities and became part of daily life in its commercial heartland.
    Residents of the kibbutz, or collective farm Nir Am, were locked down for hours after militants from Hamas, the Islamist group that dominates Gaza, crossed through a tunnel about 1.5 kilometres (one mile) away in the beginning of the conflict.
    After the Israeli offensive began on July 8, lockdown quickly became a regular event, with several infiltrations during the fighting.
    Resident of Nir Am Dafna Siboni watches the ceasefire with a wary eye.
    "I really want to trust the ceasefire, but unfortunately we've been burnt before several times. Several times we returned here and thought it was over and all of a sudden it happened again and fire was renewed. So we wait, time will tell," she said.
    Another resident, David Hershkovitz, supports the truce deal.
    "There is no military solution for this problem, everybody says that but nobody really means it. We have to have peace with them. They have to get a state: they have to get a port, a sea port, an airport. They have to be a state, if they have a state, they have what to lose - something to lose and we can fight them state-to-state. They are much weaker," he said.
    Palestinian and Egyptian officials said the deal, which was mediated in Cairo and took effect on Tuesday (August 26) evening, called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean.
    A senior official of the Islamist group Hamas, which runs Gaza, voiced willingness for the security forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the unity government he formed in June to control the passage points.
    Both Israel and Egypt view Hamas as a security threat and are seeking guarantees that weapons will not enter the territory of 1.8 million people.
    Under a second stage of the truce that would begin a month later, Israel and the Palestinians would discuss the construction of a Gaza sea port and Israel's release of Hamas prisoners in the occupied West Bank, possibly in a trade for body parts of two Israeli soldiers believed held by Hamas, the officials said.


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