Cease-fire between Israel and Gaza militants appears to be holding
GAZA CITY — A fragile cease-fire deal to end nearly three days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza held throughout the night and into Monday morning — a sign that the latest round of violence may have abated.
The flare-up was the worst fighting between Israel and Gazan militant groups since Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers fought an 11-day war last year, adding to the destruction and misery that have plagued blockaded Gaza for years.
Since Friday, Israeli aircraft had pummeled targets in Gaza while the Iran-backed Palestinian Jihad militant group fired hundreds of rockets at Israel.
Over three days of fighting, 44 Palestinians were killed, including 15 children and four women, and 311 people were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Twelve of those killed were Islamic Jihad militants, one was from a smaller armed group and two were Hamas-affiliated police officers who were not taking part in the fighting, according to the armed factions.
Israel estimated that a total of 47 Palestinians were killed, including 14 by misfired Islamic Jihad rockets. It said that 20 fighters and seven civilians died in Israeli airstrikes and that it is still investigating six deaths.
No Israelis were killed or seriously wounded in the fighting.
Israeli jets hit targets in Gaza and Palestinian rocket fire persists into southern Israel. At least 24 Gazans, including children, have been killed, the Palestinian Health Ministry says. No Israeli casualties are reported.
Israel said it was partially reopening crossings into Gaza for humanitarian needs and would fully open them if calm was maintained. Gaza’s lone power plant came back online Monday after fuel trucks entered a cargo crossing for the first time since crossing points were closed last week. The closure prompted a fuel shortage that ground the plant to a halt on Saturday. Gaza suffers from a chronic power crisis.
Life for hundreds of thousands of Israelis was disrupted during the violence. Security precautions imposed in recent days on residents of southern Israel were being gradually lifted Monday, the military said.
Both sides boasted of their successes. Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Sunday, Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Nakhalah said the militant group remained strong, despite losing two of its leaders. “This is a victory for Islamic Jihad,” he said.
Despite that claim, the group undoubtedly sustained a blow during Israel’s fierce offensive. Beyond losing the two leaders, it reduced its arsenal by firing hundreds of rockets without striking a single Israeli, thanks to Israel’s missile defense system, which shot most of them down. Its own rockets may have killed several Gazans, according to Israel.
The cease-fire deal contained a promise that Egypt would work for the release of two senior Islamic Jihad detainees held by Israel, but there were no guarantees this would happen. The weekend fighting was also bound to complicate Islamic Jihad’s relations with Hamas.
The Israel-Hamas war has helped catalyze a newfound sense of Palestinian solidarity that could mark a new moment in the Middle East, activists say.
A senior Israeli diplomatic official said the offensive had set Islamic Jihad’s capabilities back “decades.” The flare-up was “a successful counter-terrorism operation” because Israel achieved its goals in a brief period of time, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the operation with the media.
The violence had threatened to spiral into another all-out war but ended up being contained because Hamas stayed on the sidelines, possibly because it fears Israeli reprisals and the undoing of economic understandings with Israel, including Israeli work permits for thousands of Gaza residents, that bolster its control over the coastal strip.
Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since the group took control of the territory in 2007.
Israel launched its operation with a strike Friday on a leader of Islamic Jihad, saying there were “concrete threats” of an antitank missile attack against Israelis in response to the arrest last week of another senior Islamic Jihad member in Israeli-occupied West Bank. That arrest came after months of Israeli raids in the West Bank to round up suspects following a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israel.
Israeli forces killed another Islamic Jihad leader in a strike Saturday.
In their latest war with Israel, Hamas militants have lobbed more than 4,000 projectiles, reaching deeper into Israeli territory than ever before.
Israel said some of the deaths during this round were caused by errant rocket fire, including one incident in the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza in which six Palestinians were killed Saturday. On Sunday, a projectile hit a home in the same area of Jebaliya, killing two men. Palestinians held Israel responsible, while Israel said it was investigating whether the area was struck by an errant rocket.
In the West Bank on Monday, Israeli troops demolished the homes of two Palestinians suspected of carrying out a deadly attack against Israelis in the city of Elad in May. The soldiers faced a violent protest during the operation, the military said.
The outburst of violence in Gaza was a key test for caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who lacks experience leading military operations. He unleashed the offensive less than three months before a general election in which he is campaigning to keep his job.
President Biden said he welcomed the cease-fire.
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“Over these last 72-hours, the United States has worked with officials from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, and others throughout the region to encourage a swift resolution to the conflict,” he said in a statement Sunday.
The United Nations Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting Monday on the violence. China, which holds the council presidency this month, scheduled the session in response to a request from the United Arab Emirates, which represents Arab nations on the council, as well as France, Ireland and Norway.
“We underscore our commitment to do all we can towards ending the ongoing escalation, ensuring the safety and security of the civilian population, and following up on the Palestinian prisoners file,” Tor Wennesland, the U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said in a statement.
The Israeli army said militants in Gaza fired about 1,100 rockets toward Israel, with about 200 of them landing inside the Palestinian enclave itself. The army said its air defenses had intercepted 380 of them, including two fired toward Jerusalem. The military did not specify what happened to the remainder, but they likely fell in open areas or broke up in the air.
Unless Israeli officials act, Jewish settlers in the West Bank may get a taste of the military rule Palestinians have been living under for 55 years.
Islamic Jihad has fewer fighters and supporters than Hamas, and little is known about its arsenal. Both groups call for Israel’s destruction, but have different priorities, with Hamas constrained by the demands of governing.
Hamas had a strong incentive to avoid another war. Last year’s war and previous conflicts have exacted a staggering toll on the impoverished territory’s 2.3 million Palestinian residents.
Over the last year, Israel and Hamas have reached tacit understandings based on trading calm for work permits and a slight easing of the border blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt 15 years ago. Israel has issued 12,000 work permits to Gaza laborers, and has held out the prospect of granting another 2,000 permits.
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