This is a lie. And @CNN's "exchange of fire" is also inaccurate. Israel bombed Gaza. Gaza retaliated. And now Israel is bombing some more....
"Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced a cease-fire late Saturday night following regional and international mediation efforts after the most serious and widespread flare-up between Israel and Palestinian fighters in Gaza since the 2014 war." /14
Nested below are two tweets of the @CNN report, the earlier version from @CNNbrk the latest version of the Gaza escalation story now leads with the ceasefire. [The @haaretzcom and @CNN reports of todays events are both updates of earlier reports.] /15
"A spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister's office said Israel had no comment to make regarding reports of the ceasefire agreement."
The last of three paras (+ new lede) added to the @CNN story late last night. /16
The last of three paras (+ new lede) added to the @CNN story late last night. /16
12h ago (approx 2.37pm GMT) Egyptian efforts to mediate about a ceasefire were explicitly rejected by the Israeli Govt as reported in this tweet. /17
The ceasefire appears to have been announced by Hamas at around 11pm Israel time (8pm GMT) and was not initially confirmed by Israel. Though the airstrikes did stop. There is calm this morning. /18
'A senior Israeli defense official said: "Only the facts on the ground will dictate our further response.' - IDF to Reuters on the ceasefire.
reuters.com/article/us-isr…
reuters.com/article/us-isr…
This Reuters report also contains the most comprehensive account of the buildup to yesterday's events. These excerpts were not reported elsewhere so far as I can see. /20
This video message was tweeted by Netanyahu, seemingly promising an ongoing attack at around the time the ceasefire was announced by Hamas. /21
SUMMARY: After explicitly rejecting Egyptian ceasefire mediation efforts, the Israeli security cabinet met, the PM made this hawkish public video, and then the ceasefire was agreed and the PM refused to answer mefia questions. /22
... & the wider media narrative is that in the build up to yesterday Netanyahu had been under growing political pressure to act to stop the burning kites. /23
@threadreaderapp unroll
"During the strike, approx 17 rockets were launched from Gaza, 5 were intercepted by Iron Dome."
^^ @IDFSpokesperson announces its airstrikes on Gaza in the early hours yesterday morning. /24
^^ @IDFSpokesperson announces its airstrikes on Gaza in the early hours yesterday morning. /24
These tweets were issued by @IDFSpokesperson as the Israeli Airforce undertook its opening airstrike against targets in Gaza after midnight on Friday night. /25
The tweet sequence begins with rocket warning sirens going off in Israeli settlements near Gaza. And and with news an IDF airstrike is underway, and that "during the strike" Gaza launched rockets and mortars in retaliation. /26
There was two and a half hours between the siren tweets (1.41am) and the airstrike announcement tweets (4.20am). /27
If I was living in one of the settlements targeted with rockets and mortars, I would wonder why the IDF didnt warb before their offensive began, thereby enabling me and my family to avoid being in harms way. /28
This is the building that the IDF bombed where they killed the two young Palestinian boys. The photograph clearly shows the adjacent playimg field. /29
The @IDFSpokesperson also posted video of the airstrike which killed the two boys and destroyed the building. /30
