Gaza truce Gaza between Israel and Islamic Jihad after days of fighting

The Israeli-Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad has agreed to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after three days of cross-border fighting sparked by a surprise Israeli airstrike.

An Egyptian official who brokered the deal said the truce would go into effect at 11:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. BST).

A spokesperson for the Israeli military did not comment on the report, which was confirmed by Islamic Jihad. “We appreciate Egypt’s efforts to end Israel’s aggression against our people,” spokesman Tarek Selmi said.

The deal would at least temporarily stop the bloodshed that spewed out in the blockaded territory Friday in Israel’s ‘preemptive’ operation Breaking Dawn, which it said had thwarted an alleged rocket attack planned by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. must.

A total of 36 Palestinians, including 11 children and Islamic Jihad members, were killed in the bombing operations, more than 300 were injured, and 13 Israelis were being treated in hospital with minor injuries.Retaliatory rockets were fired across the country Gaza A frontier heading south of the country.

Israel said stray rockets fired by Islamic Jihad in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Saturday killed several children. Islamic Jihad has not commented on the allegations, but Hamas, the allied group that controls the Strip, has condemned the attack on Israel.

The flare-up is the worst outbreak of violence between Israeli and Palestinian militants since the 11-day war last May. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had signaled that the campaign was to last about a week. Israel has inflicted heavy losses on Islamic Jihad over the past three days, including targeting and killing two senior commanders.

Whether the latest conflict could escalate into full-scale conflict will largely depend on whether Hamas, the Islamist movement that dominates the Strip, decides to intervene. Although allied, Hamas has not fully replenished its weapons and tunnel network since the war last May, and has resisted being drawn into the fighting. All sides recognize that

Unlike Hamas, Islamic Jihad is not responsible for running day-to-day operations in impoverished areas. As a result, it is seen as a more belligerent resistance faction, often acting independently and sometimes even undermining Hamas’ authority.

Gaza’s 2.2 million inhabitants are already reeling from an unexpected spasm of violence following four wars and several other conflicts over the past 15 years.

The joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade, imposed after Hamas seized control in 2007, has turned electricity and clean water into dreaded commodities, trapping people suffering from nearly 50% unemployment and a crumbling healthcare infrastructure. rice field.

Mohammed al-Aydi, 37, used a hose to fill a water tank in the scorching heat of Sunday afternoon, saying he had no water at home since hostilities broke out on Friday. rice field. Gaza’s only power plant was forced to close after 12 hours due to a lack of fuel, and local health officials warned that if fuel is not available within the next 72 hours, ambulances, operating rooms and intensive care units will be warned that the service would be forced to stop. .

“Since yesterday, the electricity has only been on for 3 hours at a time. My neighbor has contracted for a generator that I can’t afford, so I had to take batteries to charge the lights and internet router. ‘ he said.

“It’s only the third day, but we’re already in a lot of pain.”

Tensions also rose in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank on Sunday after Islamic Jihad fired rockets aimed west of Jerusalem overnight, with large numbers of Jewish visitors at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Tisha. Bav, admitted in commemoration of destruction. His two ancient temples that once stood on this site.

The disputed area is a holy site for Muslims and Jews and is called the Temple Mount. Unofficially, Jews are allowed to visit, but not pray at the place. In recent years, however, the number of Jewish visitors offering prayers and being escorted by police has increased, prompting long-standing Palestinian fears that Israel is planning to annex the facility. making it worse.

The Israeli offensive follows a week of tensions sparked by the arrest of Bassem al-Saadi, the commander-in-chief of Islamic Jihad, in the occupied West Bank last Monday. Islamic Jihad did not fire rockets after Saadi’s arrest, but Israel claims the group is seeking retribution.

The Gaza Strip has remained relatively quiet since the civil war last May, with 256 deaths in Gaza and 14 in Israel. A new battle has begun as Israel gears up for its fifth election in four years after the short-lived coalition that ousted longtime prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu collapsed.