Ceasefire Holds, Israel Says Gaza Campaign ‘Not Over’

Calm returns, as Netanyahu hypes 'great force' used against Gazans

The ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza Strip has taken hold on Monday, and calm returned to the general area. Though Israel broadly did not confirm the ceasefire deal, they did lift restrictions on civilians in southern Israel.

For as quickly as violence escalated along the border, calm returned very quickly in its own right. Despite this, Israeli officials are denying that the campaign against Gaza itself is over, meaning fighting might resume at any moment.

On the other hand, Israeli military officials say that the civilian government was eager to see the fighting end before the Eurovision program began. This begins a week from Tuesday, and the government clearly doesn’t want the war to distract from the song competition.

All told, the flareup killed 29 people, 4 Israelis and 25 Palestinians. Though indications are that several of the slain Palestinians were civilians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed the idea that they were mainly highly ranked terrorists.

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.