After 24 hours of attacks and counterattacks, Israel and Palestinian terrorist factions in Gaza, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), agreed to a ceasefire Wednesday morning. After Khader Adnan, a PIJ spokesman, died on Tuesday while on a hunger strike in an Israeli prison, PIJ and Hamas launched more than 100 rockets into Israel. Israel responded “with two waves of Israeli Air Force assaults that struck 16 PIJ and Hamas targets,” the Israel Defense Forces said.
Adnan had been arrested on 12 occasions and rejected medical treatment whenever offered. Despite the Israel Prisons Service’s attempts to revive Adnan in a hospital after being found unconscious on Tuesday, and despite his becoming “the first Palestinian hunger striker to die in Israeli custody in more than 30 years,” Palestinian leaders framed Adnan’s death as an assassination. A few hours later, hundreds of Palestinians protested in the streets, accompanied by terrorists’ rocket strikes into Israel.
But Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and the terrorists quickly on Wednesday morning. Sources indicate that neither Israel nor the terrorist factions are eager to engage in a war, leading to the quick, reciprocal ceasefire.
Both sides kept cool long enough to reach a quick agreement, which prevented the immediate tension from spiraling out of control. But this conflict should have never started in the first place. Adnan preached violence, imploring Palestinians to become suicide bombers and gun down Israelis. He did not die of neglect or mistreatment. He refused medical care because his primary objective was to contribute to the destruction of Israel, hoping to inspire Palestinians to destroy Israel and murder its people. Israel committed no crime in his self-inflicted demise, and no retaliation from Gaza was warranted.
If these terrorist groups would lay down their weapons and pursue lasting peace with Israel, we would see real change in the Middle East. But as long as the virus of Israel hatred lives on in the minds of terrorists, Israel will continue to face rocket launches and terror attacks. That’s what makes our prayer and support for the Jewish nation crucial.
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