Fri 15 November 2019:
Israel’s army said early on Friday it had launched fresh raids on targets linked to Islamic Jihad in Gaza, after it fired a number of rockets into Israel, despite a ceasefire that came into effect on Thursday morning.
“The IDF (Israeli Defence Force) is currently striking Islamic Jihad terror targets in the Gaza strip,” the Israeli Army said in a WhatsApp message to reporters.
The ceasefire had been agreed between Israel and the Palestinian armed group after two days of fighting in Gaza that began after Israel killed a top Islamic Jihad commander in an air raid.
The announcement by the Israeli military suggested that the ceasefire, reportedly brokered by Egypt, was breaking down.
“Israel has begun another round of air strikes,” said Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, who is in Gaza.
“This is the latest evidence of fragility in what was already proving to be a tenuous ceasefire.”
We are currently striking Islamic Jihad terror targets in Gaza.
This comes after rockets were indiscriminately fired from Gaza at Israeli civilians today.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 14, 2019
Gaza medical officials have put the death toll from the two days of fighting at 34, almost half of them Palestinians civilians and including eight children and three women.
In Israel, at least 63 Israelis received treatment for injuries after hundreds of rocket launches from Gaza paralysed much of the southern part of the country.
Fawcett said that the terms of the ceasefire agreement were a “little bit different, depending on who you listen to”.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Musab al-Braim told Al Jazeera that his group had secured concessions from Israel.
“The deal included the occupation’s submission to conditions which is to stop the assassinations, particularly of the protesters in the March of Return demonstrations and to begin practically the procedures to break the siege,” he said.
The Great March of Return, a series of weekly protests, began in March 2018 call for an end to the 12-year-old land and air siege that is crippling Gaza.
Since then, 313 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli fire and thousands more wounded, according to the health ministry. Eight Israelis have been killed over the same period.
According to another official from the group, the agreement stipulates that Palestinian factions must ensure a return to calm in Gaza and “maintain peace” during demonstrations, while Israel must stop hostilities and “ensure a ceasefire” during demonstrations by Palestinians.
A top Egyptian official told the AFP news agency that his country was involved in efforts to end the fighting.
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
‘Situation remains tense’
After the ceasefire announcement, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Israel would follow suit only if Palestinian factions in Gaza stop attacks – denying that Israel had changed its open-fire policy as demanded by the Islamic Jihad group for the truce.
“Quiet will be answered with quiet,” Katz said on Thursday in remarks made to local media.
“The state of Israel will not hesitate to strike at those who try to harm it, from the Gaza Strip or from anywhere else.”
The Gaza Strip has been under a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade for more than a decade, which has severely curtailed freedom of movement for its two million people. The flow of goods and services, as well as medical supplies, has also been squeezed in the crippling siege.
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