GAZA CITY (AFP) — A fragile cease-fire between Israeli forces and militants in the Gaza Strip appeared to be holding Sunday after a five-day clash that killed 33 Palestinians and two people in Israel.
The latest round of Gaza fighting was sparked Tuesday when Israeli jets killed three top commanders from the Islamic Jihad militant group in response to earlier rocket launches from Gaza. Those killings set off a barrage of militant fire and the conflagration threatened to drag the region into another all-out war until an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire took hold late Saturday.
While the calm appeared to bring a sense of relief to Gaza’s 2 million people and hundreds of thousands of Israelis who had been largely confined to bomb shelters in recent days, the agreement did nothing to address the underlying issues that have fueled numerous rounds of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip over the years.
In Gaza, residents surveyed the latest damage caused to their surroundings, with gaping holes left in the apartments serving as what Israel said were hideouts for the six senior Islamic Jihad members killed during this round. A major Gaza-Israel freight crossing reopened on Sunday after warnings that the closure would force the shutdown of Gaza’s only power plant and exacerbate the power crisis.
Israel has gradually lifted restrictions on residents of southern Israel who have taken the brunt of the rocket launches.
Israeli officials expressed satisfaction with recent fighting that killed at least six top Islamic Jihad leaders in well-informed and targeted attacks. But at least 13 of those killed in Gaza were civilians, including a four-year-old child and a woman.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a targeted attack on a militant hideout would have repercussions throughout the region. “Israel’s enemies in Gaza and beyond know that even if they try to hide, we can always reach them and we are ready,” he said.
Israel has been criticized by human rights groups for civilian casualties in the Gaza bombing. Israel said it was doing everything in its power to avoid harm to civilians in the attack, saying militants were leaving populated areas in the territory and firing rockets indiscriminately into Israeli communities.
Some of the attacks were highly targeted, while others destroyed the homes of innocent Palestinians.
During the fighting, Israel repeatedly bombed Islamic Jihad and its command center and rocket launch site, but showed no signs of stopping the rocket launches, prompting Islamic Jihad to declare victory and send jubilant Palestinians into the streets late Saturday. rice field. The Israeli military said more than 1,400 missiles were fired during the fighting, some reaching as far as Tel Aviv and the Jerusalem area. According to preliminary military records, Israeli fighters hit more than 400 targets. It also found that about one-fifth of the rockets failed to explode and landed in Gaza, but most of the rest were intercepted or landed in open areas.
