13 May 2023 23:57
The armistice was announced after mediation by Egypt
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Gun battles between Israel and Islamic Jihad militiamen continued even after the ceasefire went into effect at 10 p.m. local time. According to media reports, two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel by the Israel Defense Forces: one was intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, while the second landed in an open area without causing damage. In response, Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip without giving further details. The armistice it had been announced after Egypt’s mediation.
The day had been fraught with tension, with rocket attacks on southern Israel and continued attacks by Jewish air forces on buildings in Gaza that the army said were serving Islamic Jihad. Tensions have also gripped the West Bank, where three Palestinians, including two wanted for military activities, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Muhammed Shtayeh called on the United Nations to “act urgently to stop Israel’s aggression against the Palestinian people.” Egypt had tried twice in the past few days to approach the parties. But Israel had rejected two demands of Islamic Jihad: to commit to ending the targeted executions of its militants in Gaza forever; and to return to his family the body of Sheikh Khader Adnan, an Islamic Jihad politician who died in an Israeli prison this month after an 86-day hunger strike.
Prime Minister Bneyamin Netanyahu was busy with urgent consultations on Saturday evening in light of the new proposals from Cairo. According to the media, one of them concerns a de-escalation of a humanitarian nature. Fuel supplies in the Gaza Strip are declining due to the continued closure of transit crossings with Israel. So far, Hamas has taken a marginal position: it has not participated in rocket attacks, but it has not prevented Islamic Jihad attacks. The deteriorating economic situation for Gaza’s more than two million residents may have prompted Hamas to call off the delay and establish calm.
In Gaza, the death of a Palestinian native of Gaza, Abdallah Abu Jaba, 36, by an Islamic Jihad missile while he was working in an Israeli agricultural area, also caused an uproar. An 80-year-old woman had previously been killed by a Palestinian rocket in Israel. So far, more than 1,200 rockets have been fired from Gaza, a quarter of which (according to Israeli estimates) have landed in the Gaza Strip, killing at least four. In the Gaza Strip, the death toll is more than 30, of whom Israel says about 20 belonged to Islamic Jihad or other militias.
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