A shaky ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad appeared to be taking hold early yesterday, ending a two-day round of violence that had threatened to disrupt next week’s Israeli national elections.
Musab al-Berim, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, said the ceasefire went into effect at 11:30pm on Monday, several hours after an earlier truce quickly unraveled.
Egypt and UN mediators had negotiated the new deal, and nearly an hour later things appeared quiet on both sides, he said.
Photo: AFP
During two days of fighting, Israeli aircraft pounded dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip while Islamic Jihad militants bombarded southern Israel with heavy rocket fire.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is locked in the final days of a divisive election campaign, ramped up his rhetoric.
He threatened Gaza’s Hamas rulers with a stepped-up operation if the rocket fire continued.
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