After five days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the two sides have agreed to a ceasefire mediated by Egypt. The ceasefire is set to begin at 10 p.m. local time. An official from the United States and an official from Israel both confirmed the agreement. Mohamad al-Hindi expressed appreciation for the continuous Egyptian effort to reach this agreement. Cairo has called on all sides to adhere to the agreement.
Deaths and Damage Caused by the Fighting
The fighting has resulted in the deaths of 33 Palestinians, including at least 13 civilians, and two Israelis, including an 80-year-old woman and a Palestinian man from Gaza who had a permit to work in Israel. Israel has claimed that its attacks have focused on Islamic Jihad targets, but residents in Gaza have reported that homes of people uninvolved in fighting had also been struck. The situation in the occupied West Bank remains combustible. The Israeli military raided the Balata refugee camp near the northern city of Nablus, sparking a firefight that killed two Palestinians. In a separate incident near the northern city of Jenin, Israeli police said they shot and killed a suspected Palestinian assailant who ran toward soldiers wielding a knife.
The Aftermath of the Fighting
Palestinians have started to assess the damage caused by Israeli warplanes and salvage whatever they can. Israel has conducted more airstrikes over the past few days, killing other senior Islamic Jihad commanders and destroying their command centres and rocket-launching sites. Hamas, the larger militant group, has praised Islamic Jihad’s strikes but remained on the sidelines, limiting the scope of the conflict. As the de facto government held responsible for the abysmal conditions in the blockaded Gaza Strip, Hamas has recently tried to keep a lid on its conflict with Israel. Islamic Jihad, however, has taken the lead in the past few rounds of fighting with Israel.
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