Palestinians celebrate ceasefire, victory over Israel

Palestinians have poured into the streets of Gaza and the occupied West Bank to celebrate a truce deal that brought an end to Israeli offensive against the besieged coastal enclave.

Chanting victory slogans and shouting “the resistance has triumphed,” jubilant residents flooded the streets of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night to express their joy over the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire deal, which came into effect at 21:00 (1900 GMT), AFP reported.

“We were in prison. I’m overjoyed at the end of the bombing and the war,” said Nasim Hamduna, a Gaza City resident.

“I left my house during the violence and here I am today going back to it,” he added cheerfully.

Ahmed Bahr, a senior Hamas official, hailed the truce deal, noting, “The resistance groups have achieved a historic victory and paved the way for the battle of liberating Palestine.”

There were similar scenes of joy in some cities of the occupied West Bank too.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt announced that the Israeli regime and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas had reached a ceasefire agreement.

Under the deal, Palestinians and Israelis agreed to end all hostilities against each other. Israel also agreed to open all crossings and facilitate the movement of people and goods in and out of the Gaza Strip. But it did not accept to lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli regime’s deadly offensive on the blockaded Gaza Strip killed more than 160 Palestinians and injured some 1,200 others since November 14.

In retaliation, Palestinian resistance fighters continued to pour rockets and missiles into the Israeli cities, killing at least five Israelis, including one soldier.