A Gaza Strip ceasefire came into effect early yesterday, an Egyptian source and a senior Islamic Jihad official said, following a spike in violence and bloodshed in the Palestinian enclave.
The “ceasefire agreement comes as a result of Egypt’s efforts” and has been endorsed by “Palestinian factions including Islamic Jihad,” the Egyptian official said.
An Islamic Jihad source confirmed the agreement.
Photo: AP
The agreement stipulates that Palestinian factions must ensure a return to calm in Gaza and “maintain peace” during demonstrations, while Israel must stop hostilities and “ensure a ceasefire” during demonstrations by Palestinians, the official said.
The agreement came after the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since Tuesday rose to 32 after Palestinian officials said six members of the same family had been killed.
Following the targeted killing of a top militant in Gaza, the two sides had been exchanging fire since Tuesday, and Israel’s military said it recorded more than 350 incoming rockets.
The Israeli military had been targeting what it said were Islamic Jihad militant sites and rocket-launching squads in the coastal enclave.
“Six members of the Abu Malhous family, including three children and two women, were killed in an Israeli strike on their family home in Deir al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip,” the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
The previous day, Israel said it targeted two Islamic Jihad militants preparing to fire antitank missiles.
Air raid sirens wailed and fireballs exploded as air defense missiles intercepted rockets as Israelis rushed to bomb shelters.
In Gaza, residents surveyed damage and mourned the dead outside a mortuary and at funerals.
UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov arrived in Cairo on Wednesday, airport officials said, following reports he was to hold talks aimed at halting the fighting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said Islamic Jihad must stop its rocket attacks or “absorb more and more blows.”
Islamic Jihad spokesman Musab al-Barayem had said the group was not interested in mediation as it retaliated over the killing of one of its commanders.
Israel killed senior Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al-Ata and his wife, Asma, in a targeted strike early on Tuesday, prompting barrages of rocket fire and air strikes.
Ata was responsible for rocket fire at Israel as well as other attacks, and was planning more violence, with the Israeli military calling him a “ticking bomb.”
There have been no Israeli deaths, although one rocket narrowly missed cars on a busy highway.
Israeli medics said they had treated 48 people for light wounds, while schools were closed in areas near the Gaza border for a second day running.
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