Truce takes hold after flare-up
GAZA CITY: Calm returned yesterday after a two-day flare-up in and around Gaza as a truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad appeared to take hold after initial jitters.
The Israeli military reported no rocket fire from the territory during the morning and AFP correspondents in Gaza reported no Israeli strikes.
The main border crossing between the Palestinian enclave and Israel was due to reopen at 9am local time, to allow medical cases and foreign nationals to leave, Palestinian officials said.
Islamic Jihad announced the truce on Monday evening but later briefly backtracked after accusing Israel of breaching it. A rocket or mortar round fired from Gaza hit open ground in Israel shortly before midnight Monday, a spokeswoman for Shaar Hanegev regional council said.
Islamic Jihad is the second largest militant group in Gaza after dominant Islamist movement Hamas.
The Israeli army ordered the parents of some 65,000 pupils in communities near the Gaza border to keep their children home for a second day.
Islamic Jihad fired more than 50 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel after the army killed one of its fighters on Sunday morning. Israeli fighter jets and helicopters responded with strikes on Islamic Jihad targets across Gaza, as well as in neighbouring Syria.
Sunday’s fighting was the most intense between Israel and Islamic Jihad since November, when Israeli air strikes killed senior commanders from the group. That three-day flare-up saw 35 Palestinians killed and more than 100 wounded, according to official figures. There were no Israeli deaths.
Islamic Jihad did not accept a wider truce Hamas agreed with Israel in late 2018 and renewed after successive flare-ups last year.