‘Of course it was worth it': Israelis celebrate ceasefire with Iran

The Guardian

5 days ago

The Iranian ballistic missile landed a little over an hour before the ceasefire was to take effect on Tuesday morning, crumpling the seven-storey apartment block in Beer Sheva, south Israel, killing four residents and wounding 30.
Jessica Sardinas felt the blast 300 metres away in her safe room, where she had slept every night for the past 10 days. She had read the news of a ceasefire before sleeping, but did not believe it.
'I never thought there would be a ceasefire,' said Sardinas, a 27-year-old psychologist, while watching rescue workers comb through rubble and flattened cars. 'But I hope there will be one because we are in danger every day here.'
Sardinas, like many Israelis, was weary after nearly two weeks of war with Iran.
Unlike the Gaza war, which has killed more than 56,000 people in the territory, ordinary Israelis could not afford to ignore the conflict with Iran. Tehran's ballistic missiles could not be batted away like the rockets Hamas fired from nearby Gaza.
Scenes like that of the struck building in Beer Sheva, which had its top two floors crumpled, while shredded clothes and broken appliances hung off the sheared-open backside of the structure, were rare in Israel.
'I told all my family and friends that I would always feel safe here, this was true until this war. I don't know if I would have moved to Israel if I knew this war would happen,' said Sardinas, who emigrated from Argentina about three years ago.
As she spoke, it was still unclear if the ceasefire announced by the US president, Donald Trump, at 1am local time, to begin 'in approximately six hours' would hold.
Israel had launched its most intense barrage of strikes in the hours before the ceasefire took effect, hitting sites belonging to internal security forces and killing hundreds of Iranian security personnel. Iran let off five waves of missiles before the truce and Israel accused it of shooting three missiles three hours after the deadline – a claim Iran denied.
Trump quickly reigned in the Israelis and warned them not to respond to the Iranian missiles, letting off an expletive in front of reporters in a clear sign of impatience with both countries.
After announcing their commitment to the ceasefire, both Iranian and Israeli officials claimed victory.
'The enemy was left with no option but to retreat, express regret and unilaterally bring its aggression to a halt,' the Iranian supreme national security council said in a statement. A victory rally was due to be held in Tehran later that evening.
'This is a great success for the people of Israel and its fighters, who removed two existential threats to our country, and ensured the eternity of Israel,' an Israeli government statement read.
In Israel, there was a palpable sense of victory – and relief that the fighting was over.
'I want to be safe. For 10 years Iran has said they want to kill us. If what the president of the US says is true, that we've gotten rid of the atomic bombs, then this war is finished,' said Gil Cohen, a 51-year-old who lives near the struck building.
Israel started the war with Iran by launching hundreds of airstrikes across the country without warning on 13 June, in what it said was a pre-emptive operation meant to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran quickly responded by shooting off a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel, kicking off 12 days of tit-for-tat fighting.
Iran has long insisted that its nuclear programme was meant purely for civilian purposes. US intelligence assessments put it two to three years away from obtaining a nuclear bomb – an estimate with which Israel and Trump disagreed.
In total, 29 people were killed and hundreds more wounded by Iranian attacks in Israel. At least 430 people were killed and more than 3,500 wounded by Israeli strikes in Iran, according to official sources, though the real number is suspected to be higher. Hundreds of thousands of people were also displaced within Iran by the attacks.
To Sardinas, that toll was justified. She said Israel was 'doing the world's dirty work' by setting back Iran's nuclear programme.
'Of course the war was worth it, it's not worth it to stop nuclear weapons? Someone needed to do it. We are attacking them first to prevent their attacks,' she said. Another passerby pushing his two daughters in a stroller said he thought a ceasefire had come too soon, as he was skeptical enough damage had been done to Iran.
Amnesty International said the 12 days of fighting had had devastating effects on civilians in both countries, as attacks struck non-military targets on both sides.
'Both Israeli and Iranian authorities have time and again demonstrated their utter disregard for international human rights and humanitarian law, committing grave international crimes with impunity,' Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International, said in a statement on 18 June.
The rights body later condemned Israel's strike on the Evin prison in Tehran on Monday, which held hundreds of prisoners, including defenders of human rights.
What happens after the ceasefire remains uncertain. Western leaders have urged a return to US and Iranian negotiations, and Israeli defence officials have indicated that their military gains could translate to a nuclear deal that was more favourable to them.
Iranian officials have not yet made a comment on their stance on negotiations.
After the initial Israeli attack on Iran, the country's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he felt negotiations with the US had been a ploy to catch the country off guard and he accused Israel and the US of 'blowing up' diplomacy.
'The war should definitely stop, the best option for everybody is a ceasefire. I don't want anything to do with this war,' said an Israeli soldier supervising relief work, confessing he had been sending memes to his friends about being forced to fight in world war three after Israel began attacking Iran.