The Israel-Gaza border yesterday fell quiet under an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire after the most intensive flareup of hostilities between Palestinian militants and Israel since a 2014 war.
Militants from Hamas, the dominant group in Gaza, and Islamic Jihad fired dozens of rockets and mortar bombs at Israel throughout Tuesday and overnight, to which Israel responded with tank and air strikes on more than 50 targets in the enclave.
There were no reports of further fighting after Palestinian and Israeli attacks in the early hours of yesterday and both sides appeared to back away from a slide toward a new war after weeks of violence along the border.
Photo: AFP
Schools opened as usual in Israeli towns near the frontier where rocket warning sirens sounded frequently on Tuesday.
Gaza’s streets were filled with morning shoppers and children went to school as normal.
A Palestinian official said Egyptian mediation led to a ceasefire, but the terms of the “understanding” did not go beyond “a restoration of calm by both sides.”
“After the resistance succeeded in confronting the [Israeli] aggression ... there was a lot of mediation in the past hours,” Hamas deputy head in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya said, in a nod to Egypt’s efforts.
“An agreement was reached to return to the [2014] ceasefire understandings in the Gaza Strip. The resistance factions will abide by it as long as the occupation does the same,” Hayya said in a statement, using militant groups’ term for Israel.
Israel stopped short of officially confirming any formal truce with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which it regards as terrorist organizations, but it launched no new attacks and signaled it was prepared to halt the hostilities if the cross-border barrages ended.
Israeli officials declared that the militants had been dealt a strong blow.
The Israeli army said three soldiers were wounded by projectiles launched from Gaza. There were no reports of Palestinian casualties in the Israeli strikes.
“Firing has stopped since the morning and Israel conveyed a message that if it resumes, the attacks on Hamas and its associates will be even stronger,” a senior Israeli official said.
“It all depends on Hamas,” Israeli Minister of Intelligence Services Israel Katz said on Israel Radio.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shehab, acknowledging a ceasefire was in effect, said its success would depend on “whether Israel will refrain from any military escalation against Gaza.”
Both Hamas and pro-Iran Islamic Jihad said they fired their salvos in response to Israel’s killing of at least 116 Palestinians since March 30 in Gaza border protests.
Islamic Jihad had vowed revenge in response to Israeli tank shelling that killed of three of its men on Sunday after explosives were planted along the Gaza frontier fence.
Violence along the Gaza frontier has soared. At least 116 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire at mass demonstrations along the border, drawing international condemnation of Israel’s use of lethal force.
The demonstrations and surge in violence come amid growing frustration among Palestinians over the prospects for an independent state.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled for several years and Israeli settlements in the occupied territories have expanded.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in