Israel returned to bomb the Gaza Strip two hours after the ceasefire with the Palestinian armed factions came into effect, in response to two “missiles” launched after the start of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.
“The army is currently attacking the Gaza Strip,” an Israeli military spokesman confirmed in a terse statement.
Technically, both sides violated the ceasefire that ended five days of war escalation that left 34 Palestinians and one Israeli dead.
The agreement, brokered by Egypt, included a commitment to “stop attacking civilians and homes” and took effect at 10pm local time (7pm GMT and 8pm GMT).
Although the ceasefire has not been respected, it cannot be ruled out that both sides could contain themselves during the night and that the escalation of the conflict, which started on Tuesday when Israel launched the “Shield and Arrow” operation performed is not resumed. “, with the aim of assassinating senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (JIP) officials.
Muhamed al-Hindi, a senior JIP leader who traveled to Cairo for the talks, said the organization – classified as a terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union – would “respect the ceasefire agreement as long as the Israeli enemy complied with it”.
For his part, Israel’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi thanked Egypt and confirmed that the country had accepted a ceasefire, but warned it would “continue to do whatever it takes to defend itself” if it were targeted would be new attacks.
The ceasefire announcement was made at the same time as a salvo of “missiles” was fired from the Gaza Strip, to which the Israeli army responded almost immediately with new bombardments of the Palestinian enclave, almost at the moment of entry in force of the armistice.
“In response to the ‘missiles,’ Israeli aviation attacked five camouflaged rocket launchers and a military post whose facilities were being used for training by the terrorist organization,” an Israeli army spokesman said of the latest bombings before the cease-fire. firing. broken two hours later.
Exceptional measures, such as restrictions on the movement and assembly of Israelis living up to 40 kilometers from the Gaza Strip, will remain in place until Monday afternoon, and the Israeli authorities have so far not announced when they will open the border with Gaza, which is vital for supplying the impoverished Palestinian enclave with basic goods.
The only electrical generator in the area, home to 2.5 million Palestinians, was in danger of running out of fuel, while hospitals were overcrowded and one of them was severely damaged by an Israeli bombing, in addition to at least 100 destroyed buildings, many of which houses.
Source: DN
