Ceasefire Quickly Returns Calm to Gaza-Israel Border

Egypt brokered 'informal' deal, Israeli officials say

Rapidly escalating strikes along the Gaza-Israel border on Tuesday came to an abrupt end Wednesday morning, with a ceasefire reported. There were no reports of further attacks from either side after the ceasefire was agreed to.

This was a deescalation rarely seen in the border area, where such strikes tend to take a bit to calm down. Israeli officials were quick to note this isn’t even a formal ceasefire, just an informal arrangement made with the help of Egypt.

This is an important distinction because there are also efforts to broker a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a formal document that would aim to bring prolonged calm to the tense border. This, however, was just a makeshift agreement on the recent escalation.

Israeli analysts suggested that the ongoing war in Syria made a quick Gaza deal particularly important to Israel, as the current far-right government considers the fighting in Syria to be a higher priority, and their immediate focus.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.