Israel, Palestine Islamic Jihad Agree On Gaza Truce Led By Egypt After 5 Days Of Deadly Clashes
Israel and Palestinian militant group have agreed to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip five days after deadly fighting that killed several in the region.
After five days of intense fighting, Palestine militant group Islamic Jihad and Israel on Saturday agreed on a ceasefire in and around the Gaza Strip. The fight killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza and two people in Israel. The truce was due to take effect at 10 pm local time, AFP quoted Egyptian and Palestinian sources. However, even in the final 30 minutes to 10 pm, rockets were fired from both ends. Several rockets were intercepted by Israeli air defence, but several more were fired after 10 pm followed by fresh Israeli strikes before things appeared to calm down.
The streets which were deserted for five days, saw people emerge into the streets.
Two more rockets were fired from Gaza at around 11 pm with no victims, the Israeli army told AFP.
Egypt which has been a long-time mediator in Gaza led the mediation efforts, it urged both sides – Israel and the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad – to adhere to a ceasefire agreement.
There had been mounting calls for a ceasefire to be agreed, including from Israel's closest ally, the United States.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, in a call to Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, "stressed the urgency of reaching a ceasefire agreement in order to prevent any further loss of civilian life", the State Department said.
Egypt had kept up its mediation effort despite repeated setbacks.
"Israel's National Security Adviser Tsahi Hanegbi... thanked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and expressed the State of Israel's appreciation for Egypt's vigorous efforts to bring about a ceasefire," a statement from the Israeli prime minister's office said, AFP reported.
Israel's response to the Egyptian initiative means "quiet will be answered by quiet, and if Israel is attacked or be threatened it will continue to do everything it needs to do in order to defend itself", he said. A Palestinian source confirmed Islamic Jihad's agreement, reported AFP.
"We want to thank Egypt for its efforts," Islamic Jihad political department official Mohammad al-Hindi, who has been in Cairo since the fighting erupted, told AFP.
On Saturday, Israel had again pounded Gaza with air strikes targeting Islamic Jihad following a new barrage of rocket fire into Israel to mark the funeral of its military commander Iyad al-Hassani, who was killed on Friday. For almost a week, life in Gaza and Israeli communities near the borders was a daily routine of air strikes and sirens warning of rocket fire coming. The crowded Gaza strip residents cowered indoors as the fighting raged on, only a few shops including pharmacies were open, and the streets remained empty.
"The whole Palestinian people are suffering," Muhammad Muhanna, 58, told AFP in the ruins of his home. "What have we done?"
A spokesman for the interior ministry in Gaza said on the final day of its campaign the Israeli military had concentrated on "targeting civilians, residential and civilian buildings".
On Saturday, the exchange of fire came after the Palestinian health ministry reported the death of two men aged 19 and 32 in an Israeli army raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. The Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said the two men killed in the raid were members of its armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
As per BBC, on Tuesday, Israel began its military operation in Gaza before dawn, killing three Islamic Jihad leaders and 10 civilians, including relatives and neighbours of the three men. Three other senior figures from the Palestinian militant group were killed in later strikes. They are among at least 33 lives lost in the fighting inside Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. There have been two deaths in Israel, one of them the Gazan day labourer.
The army said nearly 1,100 rockets had been fired from Gaza towards Israel in the current fighting, including 300 intercepted by its air defences.
The conflict has escalated since Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power late last year, heading a coalition with extreme right and ultra-Orthodox parties.
The recent fighting has been the worst since August last year which took the lives of around 50 people.
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