United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and US President Joe Biden welcomed the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, while a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that it was the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip that caused an escalation of tension.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, calling on all parties to abide by it.
This came in a statement issued by the spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, late Sunday evening, New York time.
The statement said: "The Secretary-General welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel, and calls on all parties to abide by that."
"The Secretary-General is deeply saddened by the loss of life and injuries, including children, as a result of the air strikes in Gaza and the launching of indiscriminate rockets by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other armed groups towards Israel," he added.
An American welcome to the armistice
US President Joe Biden announced on Sunday evening that he welcomed the ceasefire decision in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, Biden called on all parties to "fully implement the ceasefire and ensure the flow of fuel and humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip."
He added that Washington "supports a comprehensive investigation into civilian casualties," considering the reports of civilian casualties in Gaza a "tragedy."
We support the two-state solution.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that it was the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip that caused the escalation of tension, stressing Russia's adherence to its position on the principle of the two-state solution.
Zakharova said in a statement that "Moscow expresses grave concern about the outbreak of a new spiral of armed violence in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone."
She added, "It was the Israeli air force's strikes on the Gaza Strip that caused the new escalation of tension on August 5, and in response, some Palestinian groups began indiscriminate, unorganized bombings on Israeli territory."
A truce brokered by Egypt between the Islamic Jihad movement and Israel entered into force on Sunday (20:30 GMT).
Over the past three days, the Israeli occupation army launched raids on the Gaza Strip as part of what it called a military operation that it launched on Friday against the Islamic Jihad movement, in which 43 Palestinian martyrs were killed.
On the other hand, Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, fired rockets and mortar shells at Israeli positions.