Israel captures assailant at border
The Israeli military said it shot and captured a Palestinian who approached the Gaza perimeter fence and hurled grenades into Israel on Wednesday, in the first confrontation since Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza accepted an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire to end two days of intense fighting that had pushed the sides to the brink of another war.
The military said it spotted the assailant with a knife and wire cutters and took him into custody after the grenades he hurled failed to explode.
The frontier was quiet overnight after the most intense round of fighting since a 50day war in 2014. Palestinian militants fired 460 rockets and mortars into Israel in a 24-hour period, while the Israeli military carried out airstrikes on 160 Gaza targets. Seven Palestinians, including five militants, were killed. In Israel, one person was killed in a rocket strike and three were critically wounded.
With air raid sirens wailing throughout southern Israel and the explosions of airstrikes thundering in Gaza, the two sides had appeared to be on the
verge of their fourth war in a decade. Instead, Gaza’s Hamas rulers abruptly announced a cease-fire and Israel’s Security Cabinet ended a seven-hour discussion with an apparent decision to hold its fire.
The news was greeted with celebrations in Gaza, with Hamas declaring victory in the
latest round of violence, which was triggered by a botched Israeli raid on Sunday that left seven Palestinian militants and a senior Israeli military officer dead.
Hamas has staged nearweekly border protests since March in an effort to lift the Israeli-egyptian blockade imposed
after the Islamic militant group seized control of the coastal strip in 2007.
The blockade has ravaged Gaza’s economy, and Israel refuses to lift it unless Hamas disarms, a demand rejected by militant group, which is pledged to Israel’s destruction.