A newly-negotiated cease-fire began at 1am eastern time. As of 5:30pm eastern time on Tuesday, Hamas and its terrorist allies in Gaza still hadn’t broken it. Israeli military forces, meanwhile, have withdrawn from most of the Gaza Strip, but for a buffer zone where they are keeping a vigilant watch on any new possible terror attacks.
It’s too early to say the war is over, but calm is good. A time to catch one’s breath. A time to comfort the wounded and suffering. A time to take stock of what has just happened, and what the future could hold.
Please pray for the peace of Jerusalem and all the epicenter. Pray that the Lord would restore calm and stability. Pray that the people of Gaza would turn against Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade and other terror groups operating in the Strip. Pray that Palestinians and Israelis would soon be truly liberated from Hamas’ ruthless reign of terror and the destruction and devastation they have caused. Please also pray that Christians around the world would faithfully and publicly stand with Israel and seek to bless her as the world tries to isolate and condemn her, and that Christians would also faithfully and publicly show love and compassion to the Palestinian people who have been so oppressed by Hamas for so long.
- Number of rockets fired from Gaza at Israel: 3,356
- Number of rockets shot down by Iron Dome: 578
- Number of rockets shot from Gaza that landed inside Gaza: 475
- Number of rockets launched from civilian facilities inside Gaza at Israel: 597 rockets — of these, “approximately 260 were launched from schools, 127 from cemeteries, 160 from religious sites such as mosques, and 50 from hospitals.”
- Number of rockets the IDF believes Hamas and its allies began with in Gaza: About 10,000
- Number of rockets IDF believes they destroyed: About 3,000
- Number of rockets IDF believes Hamas and its terror allies still have in Gaza: About 3,000 to 4,000
- Number of terror tunnels destroyed by the IDF: 32
- Number of terrorist targets struck by IDF: 4,762 — “most of them rocket-launching sites, nearly 1,000 of them command and control centers, about 240 Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades buildings, nearly 200 weapons storage and manufacturing facilities, nearly 150 terror training compounds and 1,535 additional terror sites. “They were part of a strategic plan of Hamas, and an investment of approximately $100 million worth of materials, and we have now removed that threat,” Lerner said of the tunnels.
- Number of Palestinians killed: 1,867 people in the Gaza Strip, according to estimates based on figures given by Hamas — the Israeli Defense Forces say between 750 and 1,000 militants were killed in Gaza.
- Number of Israelis killed: 67 people, all soldiers except for three civilians.
- Number of Gazans displaced by the war: about 400,000 Gazans, many of whom left their apartments and places of work because Hamas and other terror groups were operating in or near them, and the IDF told them via text messages, phone calls and leaflets to leave the area so they wouldn’t be injured or killed in Israeli airstrikes against the militants.
- Amount of humanitarian relief the IDF said transferred into Gaza during the war: 1,856 trucks carrying 40,550 tons of food, medical and humanitarian supplies.
- Number of IDF soldiers called up from reserves during the war: 82,201