Gaza: Israel, Islamic Jihad ceasefire holds after deadliest clashes in a year
The truce, announced on Sunday evening by both sides, came about 50 hours after the escalation began, when Israel launched what it called preemptive strikes on targets of the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza.
At least 44 Palestinians, including 15 children and some militants, were killed in the violence, according to Palestinian officials.
The Israeli prime minister’s office thanked Egypt for its mediation efforts but warned that if the ceasefire was violated, “the State of Israel maintains the right to respond strongly.”
Terms of the agreement were not immediately made public. However, Egypt’s official state news agency reported that in the push for a truce, Cairo was working to see the release of an Islamic Jihad militant captured by Israel six days ago, and ensure a Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike in an Israeli jail would be transferred to a hospital for medical treatment.
In a statement issued by the State Department Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the ceasefire.
“The agreement will bring a welcome respite to Israeli and Palestinian civilians and permit deliveries of critical fuel and other supplies into Gaza,” the statement said.
“The United States remains dedicated to our ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and will remain fully engaged in the days ahead to promote calm. We will continue in the months ahead to work with partners to improve the quality of life for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
Fuel supplies reentered Gaza from Israel on Monday to resupply the territory’s sole power plant after it ran out of fuel stocks on Saturday, in the midst of the weekend flareup. The shortage led to drastic cuts to electricity supplies throughout the territory.
Israel and Egypt have imposed a closure on Gaza since 2007, limiting access to the territory via land, air and sea, including tight restrictions on the movement of residents and the flow of goods.
Around 30 tankers crossed from the Kerem Shalom crossing point to the Gaza’s power plant on Monday morning, a haulier’s representative told AFP.
Mohammed Thabet of the Gazan Power Generating Company told CNN he expected there would be enough diesel arriving at the site to restart three of the plant’s four gas turbines by the end of Monday.
Israel says Islamic Jihad dealt a ‘significant blow’
On Monday a senior Israeli diplomatic official claimed that Islamic Jihad suffered a “very significant blow” and had been set back decades by the Israeli operation, which took out several of the militant group’s senior leaders.
Khaled Mansour, a leader of Islamic Jihad’s operations in southern Gaza, was killed on Saturday in an airstrike on a building in Rafah, close to Egypt’s border. Israel said Mansour was responsible for a number of terror attacks against Israelis.
He was the second Islamic Jihad commander killed in the Israeli operation, which it dubbed…
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