Israel-Gaza border falls quiet after Egypt brokers ceasefire

Israeli and Palestinian fighting stopped on Wednesday after Egypt was said to have brokered a ceasefire between the two nations. 

This week saw the neighboring countries launch a series of high powered attacks across each other’s borders in the most heated exchange since the war of 2014.

Militants from Hamas, the dominant group in Gaza, and Islamic Jihad fired dozens of rockets and mortar bombs at Israel throughout Tuesday and overnight, to which Israel responded with tank and air strikes on more than 50 targets in the enclave.

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 towards a new war after weeks of violence along the border.

 

A Palestinian stands near the destroyed Islamic Jihad military base in the Gaza strip after it was targeted by an Israeli warplane

Palestinian militants had launched their heaviest barrages against Israel since the 2014 Gaza war before Israeli aircraft struck back (pictured) in a surge of fighting after weeks of border violence

Palestinian militants had launched their heaviest barrages against Israel since the 2014 Gaza war before Israeli aircraft struck back (pictured) in a surge of fighting after weeks of border violence

A Palestinian official said Egyptian mediation led to a ceasefire, but the terms of the ‘understanding’ did not go beyond ‘a restoration of calm by both sides’.

Israeli officials denied that Egypt had intervened, but a senior defence official reportedly said Israel would refrain from further strikes if there was no more fire from Gaza.

‘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) ceasefire 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, using militant groups’ term for Israel.

Israel stopped short of officially confirming any formal truce with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which it regards along with the West as terrorist organisations.

But it launched no new attacks on Wednesday and signalled it was prepared to halt the hostilities if the cross-border barrages ended. Israeli officials declared that militants had been dealt a strong blow.

Israeli planes attacked at least seven facilities belonging to armed group Islamic Jihad and the territory's dominant Hamas movement after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a 'powerful' response

Israeli planes attacked at least seven facilities belonging to armed group Islamic Jihad and the territory’s dominant Hamas movement after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a ‘powerful’ response

Israeli sirens warning of imminent rocket and mortar strikes wailed into the early hours on Wednesday, following Palestinian militants' heaviest attack against Israel since 2014

Israeli sirens warning of imminent rocket and mortar strikes wailed into the early hours on Wednesday, following Palestinian militants’ heaviest attack against Israel since 2014

Flames of rockets fired by Palestinian militants are seen over Gaza Strip toward Israeli lands

Flames of rockets fired by Palestinian militants are seen over Gaza Strip toward Israeli lands

Earlier this week, Israel Katz, the Israeli intelligence minister, said: ‘We are the closest to the threshold of war since Operation Protective Edge.

‘We don’t want it, and the other side doesn’t either, but we have our red lines.’

A Hamas spokesman defended Tuesday’s attacks as a ‘natural response to Israeli crimes’. In similarly phrased remarks, an Islamic Jihad spokesman said ‘the blood of our people is not cheap’. 

The Israeli army 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 ceasefire was in effect, said its success would depend on ‘whether Israel will refrain from any military escalation against Gaza’.

Both Hamas and pro-Iran Islamic Jihad said they fired their salvoes in response to Israel’s killing of at least 116 Palestinians since March 30 in Gaza border protests.

Pictured: A rocket that was launched from Gaza lands in the Israeli city of Netivot

Pictured: A rocket that was launched from Gaza lands in the Israeli city of Netivot

Pictured: A rocket that was launched from Gaza lands in the Israeli city of Netivot 

Smoke rises following an Israeli strikes on Gaza City, early on Wednesday. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired at least 50 rockets and mortars into southern Israel on Tuesday

Smoke rises following an Israeli strikes on Gaza City, early on Wednesday. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired at least 50 rockets and mortars into southern Israel on Tuesday

An Israeli man inspects the damage at a football field as a result of a rocket fired overnight from Gaza in the southern city of Netivot, in southern Israel

An Israeli man inspects the damage at a football field as a result of a rocket fired overnight from Gaza in the southern city of Netivot, in southern Israel

Islamic Jihad had vowed revenge in response to Israeli tank shelling that killed of 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 border, 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. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled for several years and Israeli settlements in the occupied territories have expanded.

By late Tuesday, Israeli aircraft had hit 55 facilities belonging to militant groups in Gaza, including a cross-border tunnel under construction, in response to the Palestinian barrages, the military said.

Such potential targets are usually abandoned by militants when violence with Israel flares.

Israel said some 70 rockets and mortar bombs were fired from Gaza at its southland. Some were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome rocket interceptor system and others landed in empty lots and farmland. One exploded in the yard of a kindergarten before it was due to open.  

An Israeli tank drives along the border with the Gaza strip, on Israel-Gaza Border on Tuesday

An Israeli tank drives along the border with the Gaza strip, on Israel-Gaza Border on Tuesday

A thick plume of smoke rising on the horizon of the Gaza city earlier on Wednesday morning as the strikes drew to an eventual close

A thick plume of smoke rising on the horizon of the Gaza city earlier on Wednesday morning as the strikes drew to an eventual close

A barrage of 25 mortar shells were fired into southern Israel on Tuesday, its army has claimed - hours after soldiers killed a Palestinian with tankfire. Israeli media reported that one of shells landed near a kindergarten (pictured) shortly before it opened

A barrage of 25 mortar shells were fired into southern Israel on Tuesday, its army has claimed – hours after soldiers killed a Palestinian with tankfire. Israeli media reported that one of shells landed near a kindergarten (pictured) shortly before it opened



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