Israel bombarded Gaza at 19:00 GMT, two hours after a truce with Palestinian militias from the Strip came into force in response to the launch of two rockets after an Egypt-brokered ceasefire deadline.
A military spokesman confirmed in a brief statement, “The army is currently attacking the Gaza Strip.”
Technically both sides have violated the ceasefire that ended the five-day war that left 34 Gazans dead – one of them in Israel – and an elderly Israeli woman.
The Egyptian-mediated agreement included a commitment to “cease attacks on civilians and homes”, and came into force at 22:00 local time (19:00 GMT).
Although the cease-fire has not been observed, it cannot be ruled out that the parties restrained themselves overnight and did not resume tensions last Tuesday, when Israel carried out airstrikes aimed at killing senior security officials. Operation “Shield and Arrow” was launched. ,
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The measures will continue till Monday.
Muhammad al Hindi, a senior leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (YIP), who was in Cairo, has said that his organization – which is considered a terrorist by Israel, the United States, and the European Union – will “honor the cease-fire agreement until Will do as long as enemy Israel obeys it.
For his part, Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, thanked Egypt and confirmed that his country had accepted the ceasefire, but warned that if it received new attacks “it would do whatever it takes to defend itself”. Whatever is necessary he will continue to do”.
The announcement was issued at the same time as rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, to which the Israeli military responded almost immediately, with new bombardments on the enclave, at the entry time of the ceasefire.
“In response to the rockets, Israeli aviation attacked five hidden rocket launchers and a military post used as a training facility for the terrorist organization” YIP, an Israeli army spokesman, said after the last bombardment before the ceasefire. Said about, broke down after two hours. ,
Extraordinary measures, such as movement and assembly restrictions for Israelis living 40 km around the Gaza Strip, will remain in place until Monday, but authorities have not announced whether they will reopen the border with Gaza, which has limited access to basic infrastructure in Gaza. Important to refill services.
The only power generator in the Strip, where 2.5 million residents live, was about to run out of fuel, while hospitals were overwhelmed and one of them was seriously damaged.
There was extensive damage to infrastructure, as over one hundred buildings in the enclave were destroyed, many of them residential, and the only hospital in the center of the enclave was severely damaged.
Rumors of an imminent ceasefire mediated by Egypt, the United Nations, and Qatar had been circulating for several days, but both sides to the conflict claimed that talks were being “too difficult”, apparently to stop the killings of High. YIP’s command because of Israel’s refusal. The group lost 18 militiamen, including 6 senior officers.
Since Tuesday, the army has successfully attacked 371 YIP targets – including the homes of its members and military installations – while the Islamist group has fired 1,234 projectiles with strip-rockets and mortars – most of which fell in uninhabited areas or by the army. were stopped. Anti-aircraft system.
According to the latest count by the enclave’s health ministry, a total of 33 Gazans died inside the Strip – at least 15 civilians, including 7 children – and 147 were injured.
On the Israeli side, there were two deaths: an elderly woman died on Thursday after a rocket hit her building in Rehovot, and a Gazan with a work permit in Israel was hit by shrapnel while grazing near the enclave today.
