Gaza City:
Shell-shocked Gazans Monday searched the rubble of three days of deadly conflict between Israel and Islamic Jihad terrorists as a ceasefire was signed and life slowly returned to normal.
An Egypt-brokered ceasefire reached late Sunday ended intense fighting that killed 44 people, including 15 children, and injured 360 in the enclave, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel had launched a heavy air and artillery bombardment on Islamic Jihad positions in Gaza since Friday, causing the terrorists to fire more than 1,000 rockets in retaliation, the Israeli military said.
When relative calm returned to Gaza on Monday and electricity was restored, the Palestinians tried to salvage their belongings from the rubble of the destroyed houses and clear the rubble.
“We have received the news of the ceasefire with joy and happiness and have returned to work,” said Hazem Douima, a shopkeeper in Gaza.
“We didn’t want any more bloodshed.”
Relatives buried their dead, including at a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, along with hundreds of mourners, where a family buried four minors who had died during the conflict.
“Gaza is tending his wounds,” said a resident, Mohammed Alai.
A senior Israeli diplomatic official said, on condition of anonymity, that “most of the civilians killed in Gaza were killed by Islamic Jihad rockets” that failed to fire or fired poorly.
Gaza’s only power station, after a two-day shutdown, began “working to generate electricity,” spokesman Mohammed Thabet said hours after fuel trucks passed through the reopened good border crossing.
The outage had sparked fears for hospitals overrun with casualties during the worst clashes in Gaza since an 11-day war with Hamas last year.
‘Right to respond’
The Israeli military said roads would gradually reopen in the border area where restrictions were imposed in the run-up to the offensive, which Israel said was launched to stop impending attacks.
Three people in Israel were injured by shrapnel and 31 were slightly injured while running for safety, emergency services said.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s office agreed to the ceasefire late Sunday night, but said that “if the ceasefire is violated,” Israel “retains the right to respond forcefully.”
Islamic Jihad, an Iran-backed group that has been labeled a terrorist organization by several Western countries, also accepted the ceasefire but said it too “reserves the right to respond.”
US President Joe Biden welcomed the ceasefire and thanked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for Cairo’s role in mediating.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, warned that it is “critical to consolidate the ceasefire”.
Tehran said it will always “defend the active resistance”.
Islamic Jihad said 12 of its leaders and members had been killed.
The group’s Mohammad al-Hindi said the ceasefire “contains Egypt’s commitment to work towards the release of two detainees”.
They were named as Bassem al-Saadi, a senior figure in the political wing of the group recently arrested in the occupied West Bank, and Khalil Awawdeh, also in Israeli detention.
‘serious blow’
North of Gaza, in the Israeli town of Asheklon, where airstrikes had cried and people had fled to bunkers, beachgoers returned to the Mediterranean coast.
Sitting in a cafe, Eitan Casandini said the locals felt “very good”.
“After we destroy them, we can sleep peacefully,” he told AFP. “I don’t think (Islamic) Jihad will do anything for the next three or four years.”
Islamic Jihad is aligned with the rulers of Gaza, Hamas, but often acts independently.
Hamas has fought four wars with Israel since it seized control of the enclave in 2007, including the conflict in May last year.
Israel has said it was necessary to launch a “preemptive” operation against Islamic Jihad, while the diplomatic official said the group had planned a sniper attack or anti-tank missile attack.
The army killed senior Islamic Jihad leaders in Gaza, including Taysir al-Jabari and Khaled Mansour.
The senior Israeli diplomatic official said Islamic Jihad had been dealt “a very serious blow” that “cost them decades ago”.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)