Israel will cease military operations in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved a unilateral cease-fire in the conflict with Hamas, his office said Thursday. After 11 days of fighting, the conflict in Gaza appears to be over for now, though at enormous cost for the enclave: 230 Palestinians killed, including dozens of children, and tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes.
Hamas said it will also cease fire, after firing thousands of rockets from Gaza that killed 12 people in Israel.
Netanyahu initially held out against international pressure, including a Wednesday phone call by President Biden, to ramp down air strikes in Gaza against what Israel said were Hamas military targets — including, controversially, a high-rise building housing the offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. The Israeli bombing campaign has left Gaza in ruins, according to the New York Times, which reported earlier this week that sewage systems, hospitals, and schools for 2 million people have either been damaged or destroyed.
