Andrey Yashlavsky
A ceasefire agreeme-nt that ended alm-ost three days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza came into effect on Monday morning. Ob-servers see this as a sign that the latest round of vi-olence in the Middle East may have subsided. The question is, for how long?
The latest flare-up was described by the Associated Press as the most intense fighting between Israeli and Gaza militants since the sector became a battlefield in last year’s 11-day war, exacerbating the destruction and suffering that has plagued Gaza for years.
Since Friday, Israeli aircraft have been striking targets in Gaza, while the Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad (designated as a terrorist organization in several countries, including the US, UK, EU, etc.) fired hundreds of missiles at Israel.
According to the Palesti-nian Ministry of Health, during the three days of fighting, 44 Palestinians were killed, including 15 children and four women, and 311 were injured.
Israel on Monday said it was partially reopening the checkpoints in Gaza for humanitarian purposes and would reopen them fully if calm continued in the area. Tankers were seen entering the cargo crossing after fuel supplies to the sector were shut down, resulting in fuel shortages that shut down Gaza’s only power station on Saturday.
The lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis were disrupted during the outbreak of violence. The security measures introduced in recent days for residents of southern Israel are being gradually lifted on Monday, the military said.
Both sides of the conflict boasted of their successes. Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Sunday, Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nahala claimed victory and that the group remains strong desp-ite the loss of two of its leaders.
Despite this claim, the group has undoubtedly suffered losses during Israel’s fierce attacks. In addition to losing two leaders, the militants squandered their arsenal by firing hundreds of missiles without hitting a single Israeli, thanks to the Israeli missile defense system, which shot down most of the projectiles fired from the sector.
The Israeli army said militants in Gaza fired about 1,100 rockets at Israel, with about 200 of them landing in the Palestinian enclave. The army said its air defense systems intercepted 380 of them, including two fired towards Jerusalem. The military did not specify what happened to the rest, but they likely fell in open areas or exploded in the air.
The ceasefire agreement suggests that Egypt will work to release two senior Islamic Jihad figures held by Israel, but there is no guarantee that this will happen, the Associated Press notes.
A senior Israeli diplomat said the offensive set back Islamic Jihad by “decades.” According to him, a “successful counter-terrorism operation” was carried out, during which Israel achieved its goals in a short period of time.
The violence threatened to escalate into another full-scale war, but was eventually stopped because the Islamist group Hamas, which rules Gaza, remained on the sidelines, perhaps because it fears Israeli reprisals and the cancellation of economic agreements with Israel, including Israeli permits for jobs for thousands of Gaza residents. This is despite the fact that there have been four wars between Israel and Hamas since the Palestinian group took over the sector in 2007.
Israel began its operation Friday by striking an Islamic Jihad leader, saying there were “specific threats” to strike Israelis with anti-tank missiles in retaliation for the arrest last week of another senior Islamic Jihad member in the West Bank. This arrest comes after months of Israeli raids in the West Bank to detain suspects following a series of attacks by Palestinians against Israel.
On Saturday, another Islamic Jihad leader was killed in a strike.
Israel said some of the deaths during the latest outbreak of conflict were cau-sed by accidental rocket fir-e from militants, including one incident in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza that killed six Palestinians on Saturday.
Western media emphasize that the latest outbreak of violence in Gaza has become a key test for interim Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who has no experience in leading military operations. However, he unleashed an offensive less than three months before a general election in which he is campaigning to keep the job.
