What’s the story?

At 11.30pm local time on 7 August, an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire went into effect between Israel and the Palestinian militant organisation Islamic Jihad, following a sustained Israeli military offensive on the Gaza strip over the preceding three days. According to Mondoweiss, Israeli airstrikes continued throughout the final hour leading up to the ceasefire.

Over the course of the attacks, a reported 43 Palestinians were killed - including 15 children - while over 300 are believed to have been wounded. According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, roughly 1500 housing units in Gaza were either damaged or completely destroyed by the assault.

Although the ceasefire is in force, it remains unclear if Israel has agreed to Islamic Jihad’s main demands, which include the release of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh and the recently imprisoned Islamic Jihad leader Bassam al-Saadi.

What caused the attack?

On 1 August, Israeli soldiers arrested al-Saadi at the Jenin refugee camp – the eight time he has been detained. While Islamic Jihad warned that they were “prepared to respond to this aggression” and Israel restricted traffic around the Gaza-Israel boundary, no Palestinian rocket attacks or other reprisals were launched from Gaza.

Nevertheless, on Friday afternoon Israel launched an aerial assault upon Gaza, in what would quickly become the most brutal outbreak of violence since the 11-day war in May last year.

Given that no attacks had been made prior to the assault by Islamic Jihad or any other Palestinian group, many international observers have speculated that the attack was motivated by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s desire to demonstrate his strength and hawkishness ahead of the country’s upcoming general election in November.

What was the international response?

Unsurprisingly, the assault drew widespread condemnation from the Arab world. The Arab League have called on the international community and the UN Security Council in particular to implement standing UN resolutions and prevent further violence, stating they must “launch a serious political process that leads to enabling the Palestinian people to exercise their rights to freedom, sovereignty and return to their land, with an independent state which has Jerusalem as its capital, as a way to achieve the desired peace to which the region aspires."

Francesca Albanez, UN special rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, condemned the Israeli attack, saying: “Israel cannot claim to be defending itself in this conflict". 

US President Joe Biden welcomed the ceasefire and expressed sorrow over the death and destruction which preceded it, but did not specify where responsibility lay.

Prior to the ceasefire’s announcement, Scotland’s health secretary Humza Yousaf responded on social media to the death of Palestinian five-year-old Alaa Qaddoum, writing: “She is just a couple of years older than my daughter. What crime did this 5 year old commit? How on earth can this be justified? A tragedy and injustice, heartbreaking and senseless.”

What happens now?

The question of whether the violence will restart or escalate depends on the future actions of both Israel and Hamas, the Islamist authority in control of the Gaza strip and responsible for the administration of its utilities. While Hamas has laid blame upon Israel, it has so far resisted being drawn into the conflict since last May’s war, and have largely focused upon tackling the humanitarian situation within Gaza, where officials warned ahead of the ceasefire that hospitals had only enough fuel to run generators for two days.

For now, Gaza’s power plant is online once again, while Israel has reopened access to Gaza for humanitarian aid. If this détente will be maintained, however, remains to be seen.