Gaza Confrontation Reaches End With Egypt-Brokered Ceasefire
Late on May 14, Israel concluded its military operation in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian armed factions halted rocket attacks under a ceasefire agreement that was brokered by Egypt.
The confrontation in Gaza broke out on May 9, when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched Operation Shield and Arrow against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in response to a series of rocket attacks that targeted southern Israeli towns and settlements a week earlier.
The PIJ and other Palestinian armed factions in the strip retaliated to the attack by launching Operation Revenge of the Free.
The Egypt-brokered ceasefire took effect just after 10 p.m. on May 14, with a last-minute burst of rocket fire from Gaza, and retaliatory Israeli strikes stretching several minutes past the deadline. Later, Israel reported additional incoming fire and said it again struck targets in Gaza. However, the ceasefire held on.
Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi offered his gratitude to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for his efforts to broker the agreement, according to a brief statement from the country’s Prime Minister’s Office.
Meanwhile, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that Operation Shield and Arrow was “good and important,” but warned that his far-right party should not remain silent on security issues, according to Israel’s Ynet news website.
In a speech following the ceasefire agreement, PIJ leader Ziad Nakhaleh declared the “end of another round of conflict with the Zionist project.”
Nakhaleh, who is based in Syria, said it “lost many of our dear brothers” and “we part from them with pride,” adding that “a nation whose leaders died as shahids [martyrs] will never be defeated.”
The PIJ and other Palestinian armed factions in Gaza launched at least 1,234 rockets and mortar shells in the framework of Operation Revenge of the Free. The rocket fire reached as far as the cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The IDF said that its air defense systems, the Iron Dome and David’s Sling, intercepted 373 of the rockets. Several rockets have landed within towns, killing two and injuring 69 others, as well as causing extensive damage. The rest landed in open areas without causing damage.
Strikes hit 371 targets belonging to the PIJ during Operation Shield and Arrow, according to the IDF. Health officials in Gaza said that 33 people, including four women and six children, were killed, with more than 190 others wounded.
The IDF assassinated six senior commanders of the PIJ in the course of the operation, inflicting some damage on the faction’s command and control chain.
Despite the end of the confrontation, tensions between Israel and Palestinains are still high in Gaza as well as in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. The Israeli operation has clearly failed to neutralize, or even isolate the PIJ, who remains undeterred.
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