At 2 AM on Sunday morning, Israel declared
unilateral ceasefire in Gaza after it's security cabinet, comprised of the 12-members voted Saturday night, by a margin of 7-2 to approved the cease-fire.
The Jerusalem Post's Herb Keinon reports:
According to what was decided Saturday night, Israel will stop its offensive, but will keep the IDF forces in place, see how Hamas responds and whether an effective mechanism will be set up on the border to stop smuggling.
If so, then discussions will begin on withdrawing the troops. If not, the operation will continue.
"The conditions have been created so that our targets, as defined when we launched the operation, have been fully achieved, and more so," Olmert said, in a special address to the nation on Saturday night.
Those goals were defined as stopping the rocket fire on Israel and an end to the arms smuggling into Gaza.
"Hamas was hit hard, both its military capabilities and its governing infrastructure," Olmert said.
Immediately following Olmert's announcement, Hamas fired eight missiles at Israel.
Barak said there were likely to be continued rocket attacks on Israel and IDF forces in the immediate aftermath of the cease-fire, and that the army was prepared to deal with that eventuality.
Hamas, meanwhile, said it was not obligated by the unilateral declaration.
Hamas fired rockets that landed near Ashdod and in the Eshkol and Sha'ar Hanegev areas just before the end of the security cabinet meeting.
The Jerusalem Post reports a
late-night barrage of rockets despite the announced Israeli ceasefire:
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue to fire rockets at the western Negev on Saturday evening, despite a cabinet decision that the IDF would halt their fire from 2 a.m. Sunday. At least seven rockets were fired after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced the unilateral cease-fire, with one Grad-type rocket causing power outages in Ashdod.
Rockets also hit Ashkelon and Beersheba. No casualties were reported in the attack, however many suffered shock.
During the evening, officials from the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council reported hearing three explosions near a kibbutz; no injuries or damage was reported.
Israel National News reports that
classes were canceled in Sderot, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Be'er Sheva and the Merchavim regional council due to ceasefire Talks.
The Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh reported on Sunday afternoon that Damascus-based Hamas leader
Khaled Mashaal announced a cease-fire on Syrian television in which they claim to "they would halt all military activity and give IDF troops one week to pull out of the Gaza Strip."
