Militants agree ceasefire with Israel to end five-day fighting

Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials in the Gaza Strip said Saturday night that they have reached an agreement to end the worst cross-border fighting since 2021.

Mohammed al-Hindi, a senior member of Islamic Jihad’s leadership, told the Al Cairo Wal Nas channel that the deal, brokered by Egyptian officials, would take effect at 22.00 local time on Saturday, leaving five days more likely to expire. flare up

Minutes after the deadline, sirens went off warning of incoming missiles in areas around the Gaza Strip, and Israel later said its aircraft shot down two hidden rocket launchers in Gaza, ending the deal’s stability. came under the scanner.

By Sunday morning, however, the truce seemed to hold. Israel reopened the main border to Gaza, and gradually eased restrictions on Israelis living in the south of the country, which was hardest hit by rocket fire.

Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Israel’s National Security Council, said that Israel’s acceptance of the ceasefire meant that ‘quietness would be answered with peace’, and that if Israel was attacked or threatened, “it would continue to do whatever it can.” will keep what it needs to defend itself”.

Egyptian officials have been trying to negotiate a truce since Wednesday, but the previous round of talks failed after Israel rejected Islamic Jihad’s demand that it stop targeted killings of its leadership.

The cross-border exchanges have been the heaviest since Hamas, the large militant group that controls Israel and Gaza, fought an 11-day war in 2021. The Israeli army said on Saturday that it had bombed 371 sites in the blockade since the start of the confrontation. coastal enclave, while terrorists fired 1,234 rockets and mortars into Israel.

The fighting culminated in a year of rising Israeli-Palestinian tensions, with Israeli forces conducting near-nightly raids in the wake of Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the occupied West Bank, and militants in Israel and Gaza periodically resorting to rocket fire. exchanged.

The latest round of violence began on Tuesday as Israel killed 15 people, including eight women and children, in airstrikes targeting three senior members of Islamic Jihad.

A total of 33 people, including 9 women and children, have been killed and 147 injured in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry. Israel said it executed at least six senior Islamic Jihad officials.

In Israel, two people were killed by rocket fire, including a Palestinian with a permit to work in Israel, and a woman was killed when a rocket hit an apartment block in the city of Rehovot. According to Israeli paramedics, five more people were injured in the strike in Rehovot.

Rocket salvos have forced people into bomb shelters across southern Israel, as well as triggered warning sirens in the commercial center of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, which militants targeted on Friday in a rare move.

The fighting has also exacerbated dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, the 365-sq km enclave home to more than 2 million Palestinians whose economies have been devastated by a 16-year blockade by Israel and Egypt.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA warned on Friday that 417 people had been internally displaced in the strip during the fighting, mainly due to the destruction of their homes.

It added that the power cuts, which had plagued the enclave, had also worsened, reducing power supply to many parts of Gaza for less than 12 hours a day.