Residents of the rocket-scarred southern Israeli town of Sderot enjoyed a bright summer day made brighter still by the silence of the public air-raid system yesterday, the first day of a truce between Israel and Islamic militants across the border in the Gaza Strip.
In Gaza, the promise of a lull in Israeli air and artillery strikes emboldened youngsters on bicycles to ride closer than usual to the border fence. Militants often launch rockets and mortar shells from the area, drawing Israeli fire in response.
“It’s peace today,” said Osama Helas, a 16-year-old Palestinian, as he rode along the Gaza side with two friends. “This is the first time that there is no sound of shelling or shooting. I hope that we will be able to enjoy our lives like this every day.”
The truce — meant to last six months — took effect early yesterday between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
The ceasefire, which Egypt labored for months to conclude, obliges Hamas to halt attacks from its territory and says Israel must cease its raids. If the quiet holds, Israel will ease its blockade of Gaza on Sunday to allow the shipment of some supplies to resume. A week later Israel is to further ease restrictions at cargo crossings.
Sderot, less than 1.5km from the Gaza frontier, has borne the brunt of Palestinian attacks over the past seven years, during which rocket and mortar fire has killed 13 people, wounded dozens more, caused millions of dollars in damage and made daily life unbearable. More than 1,000 projectiles have exploded in the town of around 20,000 people over the past year alone.
Yesterday morning, one local man who did not give his name, showed reporters his brand new car, hit by a mortar shell the day before as it stood outside his house. With only 100km on the clock, its windows were blown out and the bodywork gouged and ripped by shrapnel. The house and its occupants were unscathed.
Another resident, Motti Lishar, said he was confident that Hamas, which rules Gaza with an iron hand, would keep militants in line.
“I believe that there will be quiet for the next six months, because anyone who tries to fire will get his hand chopped off,” he said. “When Hamas makes a promise, they keep it.”
Dropping his granddaughter at a neighborhood kindergarten, Eliezer Ashurov said he hoped for the best, but feared the worst.
“If there is a chance of a ceasefire then that is always a good thing, a truce is always the right thing,” he said. “But it needs to stand the test of time, time will tell.”
Across the border in Gaza, civilians have also paid dearly for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with women, children and the elderly repeatedly caught in crossfire or killed in Israeli strikes aimed at nearby militant targets.
Six-year-old Hadeel al-Smari was killed last week by a missile fired from an Israeli aircraft in the southern Gaza Strip.
Her cousin Ahmad, 38, said the collapse of past ceasefires left him with little confidence in the latest attempt.
“I don’t know how long this calm will last and how many hours, days we will have without shootings, shelling and tanks coming in and out,” he said.
“We want a real end to all violence, to feel like we are human, to sleep without fear and to farm without fear, to eat, drink, study, travel. I don’t think that Israel is ready to give that to us now,” he said.
Also See: Angry Palestinians accuse Israel of more confiscations
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS