(Gaza) A truce brokered by Egypt came into effect on Saturday evening after five days of war between the Israeli army and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza that left 35 dead.
A few more rockets were fired in the quarter of an hour following the theoretical entry into force of the truce (10 p.m. local time), followed by new Israeli strikes before a return to calm.
Celebrating a “victory” by waving Palestinian flags or various armed groups, a few hundred people gathered in the evening in a square in Gaza.
The last few days have “proved what our missiles are capable of, how united our people are, and today is an honorable victory”, assured AFP Jenin Atwa, driving his car.
PHOTO ASHRAF AMRA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A building in the Gaza Strip was destroyed by an Israeli strike before the ceasefire.
According to the Israeli army, two rockets were still fired from Gaza after 11 p.m. (4 p.m. Eastern Time), with no casualties.
This week’s deadly escalation was the most violent between Gaza and Israel since August 2022. It began on Tuesday with airstrikes that killed three military commanders of Islamic Jihad, a movement described as “terrorist” by both the United States and the European Union than by Israel, this week’s deadly escalation was the most violent between Gaza and Israel since August 2022.
Israel and Islamic Jihad thanked Egypt for its mediation, which Washington also praised.
In Gaza, Tariq Salmi, spokesman for the Islamic Jihad, warned Israel against “any stupid action or assassination of commanders […] of the Palestinian resistance”, while Mohammed al-Hindi, head of the political office of the Islamic Jihad contacted by telephone in Cairo, announced an agreement including a commitment from Israel “to stop targeting fighters”.
“Calm” versus “calm”
“Israel’s response to the Egyptian initiative” means that “the response to calm will be calm, and if Israel is attacked or threatened, it will continue to do whatever it needs to do to defend itself,” it said. an official Israeli statement on behalf of Tzachi Hanegbi, national security adviser to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, without confirming any agreement.
PHOTO JACK GUEZ, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Protesters expressed their opposition to the Israeli strikes in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
The White House welcomed the announcement of a truce “in order to avoid further loss of life and restore calm, both for the Israelis and the Palestinians”, underlined its spokeswoman Karine Jean. -Pierre, in a press release.
In Gaza, a territory under Israeli blockade since the takeover of the Islamist movement Hamas in 2007, the Interior Ministry accused Israel of concentrating its strikes “on civilian targets and residential buildings”.
Since Tuesday, clashes between Israel and Gaza have claimed the lives of 34 Palestinians – the last of whom, a laborer working in Israel, was killed on Saturday by a Palestinian rocket. On the Israeli side, an octogenarian was killed Thursday in Rehovot, in central Israel.
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of life […] including those of children and women, caused by Israeli strikes and the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Islamic Jihad and other groups,” said UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland, in a press release.
“I call on all parties to respect the ceasefire” and “I look forward to the restoration of access” for humanitarian aid to Gaza, he added.
6 commanders, 13 civilians
Among the Palestinians killed are six military commanders of the Islamic Jihad, fighters of this movement, and others of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), another armed group.
PHOTO MOHAMMED SALEM, REUTERS
Rockets fired Saturday from Gaza
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has confirmed the deaths of at least 13 Palestinian civilians, including seven minors. The Israeli army claims that four civilians, including three minors, were killed by Palestinian rockets that fell on the Gaza Strip.
The military says it has hit 371 ‘terrorist targets’ since Tuesday and more than 1,230 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, of which more than 370 were intercepted by the air defense system, which normally fires only when the rockets fire. threaten inhabited areas.
The Gaza Strip, a cramped territory plagued by poverty and unemployment where 2.3 million Palestinians live, has been the scene of several wars with Israel since 2008.
In August 2022, three days of clashes between Israel and Islamic Jihad caused the death of 49 Palestinians, including at least 19 children according to the UN. More than a thousand rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, injuring three.