Conflict Palestina-Israel
Palestinian militants held fire overnight on Thursday and Israel refrained from air strikes as an informal truce brokered by Egypt appeared to take hold following two days of violence along the Israel-Gaza border.
Palestinians had launched dozens of rockets into Israel over the
preceding two days and Israel conducted a number of air raids on the
coastal enclave, raising fears of a prolonged, bloody confrontation
between the two sides.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the last known rocket was fired from Gaza on Wednesday at 8.00 p.m. (1800 GMT).
FRANCE 24’s Gallagher Fenwick, reporting from Gaza, said the unofficial ceasefire seemed to be holding on Thursday morning.
“There does seem to be a lull in the fighting between Israel and
Gaza at this point in time,” Fenwick said. “There seems to have been no
rockets and no Israel air raids either.”
“Wednesday was particularly violent when several people died in
Gaza, others were wounded and there were injuries as well on the Israeli
side, but it seems at this point both parties have no interest in
further escalating this.”
FRANCE 24’s correspondent said Hamas had stationed forces along the
border to prevent any rogue factions firing rockets into Israel, which
would threaten the cease fire.
An Israeli defence official said no formal agreement had been
reached with Hamas, the Islamist faction which controls the Gaza Strip,
although Egyptian defence officials had been instrumental in restoring
calm.
“The Egyptians have a very impressive ability to articulate to
(Hamas) that its primary interest is not to attack and use terror
against Israel or other targets,” Israeli defence official Amos Gilad
told Israeli Army Radio.
But he added that there was no direct agreement with the Islamist
faction, which refuses to recognise the Jewish state and calls for its
destruction.
“It can be said categorically that there is no agreement with
Hamas, there has never been and there will never be. ... The only thing
that has been set and said is that there will be calm. We are not
interested in an escalation,” Gilad added.
On Wednesday, Israel killed a Hamas militant in an air strike which
it said was intended to stop rocket launches. On Tuesday, Israel killed
three Hamas men, saying they had either launched attacks or were about
to do so.
In southern Israel, three agricultural workers were wounded when a Palestinian rocket exploded near them on Wednesday.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said 86 projectiles had been fired
at Israel between Tuesday and Wednesday and that the Iron Dome
[anti-missile] system had intercepted eight of them. Several homes were
damaged by Palestinian rockets.
Israeli schools reopened on Thursday after they had been kept shut
in communities near the fenced Gaza boundary and residents were urged to
remain indoors.
Hamas has refused to renounce violence or recognise Israel’s right
to exist, and is ostracised by the Quartet of Middle East mediators
comprising the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia.
