Calm returns to Gaza after Egypt brokers cease-fire
Calm returned to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday under an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire after the most intense flareup of hostilities between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel since a 2014 war.
The exchange of fire on Tuesday and into the early hours of Wednesday had raised the possibility of yet another war in the besieged Palestinian enclave run by Hamas, which would be the fourth since 2008.
Israel said it targeted some 65 sites in the Gaza Strip. It also said around 100 rockets and mortars fired from Gaza either exploded in Israel or were intercepted by air defenses.
There were no reports of further fighting after Palestinian and Israeli attacks in the early hours of Wednesday, and both sides appeared to back away from a slide toward a new war after weeks of violence along the Gaza fence.
A Palestinian official said Egyptian mediation led to a cease-fire, but the terms of the “understanding” did not go beyond “a restoration of calm by both sides”.
“After the resistance succeeded in confronting the (Israeli) aggression ... there was a lot of mediation in the past hours,” Hamas’ deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil al-hayya, said, in a nod to Egypt’s efforts.
“An agreement was reached to return to the (2014) cease-fire understandings in the Gaza Strip. The resistance factions will abide by it as long as the Occupation does the same,” Hayya said in a statement.
Israel stopped short of officially confirming any formal truce with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
But it launched no new attacks on Wednesday and signaled it was prepared to halt the hostilities if the barrages ended.
The Israeli military said three soldiers were wounded by projectiles launched from Gaza. There were no reports of Palestinian casualties in the Israeli strikes.
“Firing has stopped since the morning and Israel conveyed a message that if it resumes, the attacks on Hamas and its associates will be even stronger,” a senior Israeli official added.
“It all depends on Hamas,” Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said on Israel Radio.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shehab, acknowledging a cease-fire was in effect, said its success would depend on “whether Israel will refrain from any military escalation against Gaza”.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they fired their salvoes in response to Israel’s killing of at least 116 Palestinians since March 30 in Gaza fence protests.
Islamic Jihad had vowed revenge in response to Israeli tank shelling that killed three of its men on Sunday after explosives were planted along the Gaza frontier fence.
Violence along the Gaza frontier soared in recent weeks. At least 116 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire at mass demonstrations along the fence, drawing international condemnation for Israel over its use of lethal force.
The demonstrations and surge in violence come amid growing frustration among Palestinians over the prospects for an independent state.
Reuters and AFP contributed to this story.