Late reports this evening indicate that a ceasefire was reached in Gaza at about midnight local time — precisely the Friday, May 21 schedule that had been widely reported as Israel’s intention all along. Over the course of the week, a choreographed diplomatic dance of sorts was conducted, with the Biden administration first suggesting to Prime Minister Netanyahu that “significant de-escalation” was needed, followed by the State Department downgrading the request to calling for a “sustainable calm” to be achieved. Throughout, Netanyahu made it clear that he had no intention of doing anything other than completing his deadly military objectives — which the Biden administration de facto endorsed.
For example, after hearing President Biden call for a de-escalation to begin on Wednesday, Netanyahu proceeded to brief his ambassadors: “We’re not standing with a stopwatch in our hand; rather, we are making sure to meet the goals of this operation.” Israel’s ambassador to the US, Gilad Erdan, provided the more diplomatic version, on Israel Radio Thursday: “The U.S. government wants a cease-fire already. There is no disagreement between us on that. We also want this fighting to end quickly… but we need to know that the Hamas infrastructure has been sufficiently damaged.” In between, there was a lot more bombing.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi had told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, according to Axios, that Israel “needs another few days to complete its Gaza operation.” Israel’s Channel 12 likewise reported on Wednesday: “Israeli military and politicians share an opinion that there will be no ceasefire until Friday.”
Many European governments also provided Netanyahu with the cover he required. EU Foreign Ministers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Thursday. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas pontificated: “The fact that we see that Hamas is again firing missiles into the south of Israel, since we have arrived here in Tel Aviv, is for us an indication of how serious the situation is that the people of Israel find themselves in.” However, the “casualty numbers are rising by the day. That also concerns us greatly, and for that reason we support international efforts for a ceasefire.” Maas already has blamed Hamas for the escalation and has ruled out talking to them. Foreign Minister Ashkenazi happily thanked Germany and the other European nations for their support.
At this point, 58,000 Palestinians have fled their homes. At least 230 have been killed and 1,710 wounded. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, together, say 20 of their fighters have died. Israel claims that 110 more of the dead are non-civilian. Twelve more have died in Israel, including one soldier. WHO says that 18 hospitals and clinics, and one health facility, are damaged or destroyed. Gaza’s Ministry of Education says 46 schools had been hit. Gaza is a pretty small place, so there can’t be much left for the Israelis to target unless they start carpet bombing.
