Israel and Islamic Jihad agree to truce in Gaza
A truce between Israel and the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad group has officially come into effect, with an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire agreement meant to end the worst episode of cross-border fire since a 10-day war in 2021.
As fighting tapered off late on Saturday night, streets in Gaza that had largely been deserted filled with Palestinians. Some people cheered and honked car horns while others headed to the homes of people killed in the fighting to show their respect.
Rockets are launched by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, in Gaza, Saturday, May 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
“In light of the agreement of the Palestinian and the Israeli side, Egypt announces a ceasefire between the Palestinian and the Israeli sides has been reached,” a text of the agreement seen by Reuters read.
“The two sides will abide by the ceasefire, which will include an end to targeting civilians, house demolition, an end to targeting individuals immediately when the ceasefire goes into effect,” it said.
Israel’s national security adviser thanked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for Cairo’s efforts, a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“Quiet will be met with quiet, and if Israel will be attacked or threatened, it shall continue to do what it must in order to defend itself,” the statement said.
Islamic Jihad also confirmed the agreement.
“We declare our acceptance of the Egyptian announcement, and we will abide by it as long as the occupation (Israel) abides by it,” the group’s spokesman, Dawoud Shehab, said.
Even as the truce was being finalised, the two sides kept up firing, with air raid sirens sounding as far as Tel Aviv’s suburbs and Israel’s military announcing it had hit Islamic Jihad targets in response to rocket fire.
Though happy about the news of the truce, some Gaza residents, weary of repeated flare-ups, feared that another round of fighting would erupt before long.
“We want the truce to be based on principles, not like in the past when after a calm (truce) people died,” said resident Munir Marouf, 43.
Israel launched the latest round of airstrikes in the early hours of Tuesday, announcing it was targeting Islamic Jihad commanders who had planned attacks in Israel.
In response, the Iranian-backed group fired more than 1000 rockets, sending Israelis fleeing into bomb shelters.
During the five days of the campaign, Israel killed six senior Islamic Jihad commanders and destroyed a number of military installations.
At least 10 civilians, including women and children, were also killed in Gaza during the fighting, and two people – an Israeli woman and a Palestinian labourer – were killed by Palestinian rocket fire in Israel.
Islamic Jihad spurns co-existence with Israel and preaches its destruction. Top ministers of Israel’s religious nationalist government rule out any state sought by Palestinians in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
The co-CEO of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim, told J-Wire: The ceasefire in Gaza is a very welcome development after five days of bloodshed.
Thanks are due to the skill and perseverance of the Egyptian negotiators who brokered the agreement to end the violence. We can only hope that this is not another false dawn, like so many ceasefires in the past which have been broken by Palestinian terror groups. The time has come for all Palestinian groups, not just some of them, to renounce the path of violence once and for all.
The strategy of violence has been a demonstrable and devastating failure for the Palestinian people. It has served only to unite Israelis and to fortify their will to survive and strengthen the Jewish State. The Palestinians desperately need new leaders who are committed to pursuing the only strategy that they have not yet tried – a strategy of permanent peace with Israel.
The president of the Zionist Federation of New Zealand, Rob Berg, stated: “The Zionist Federation of New Zealand welcomes the ceasefire and hopes that Hamas and Islamic Jihad ensure that no more rockets or missiles are fired into Israel.
We hope the calm prevails so that the people in Israel and in Gaza can go about their lives in peace.
However, we stand by Israel’s ongoing right to defend itself against terrorism should the need arise. We call on the United Nations and all countries around the world to make sure Qatari and Iranian funds and armaments do not find their way to Gaza and that Hamas invest the funds they receive from the world in creating peace and prosperity for their people rather than using the money to fund its ongoing war against Israel.
Dr Colin Rubenstein, executive director of AIJAC, said: “The Egyptian-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in a manner which enhances Israel’s deterrent strategy and counter-terrorism efforts, is obviously very welcome.
While the loss of civilian life and injuries sustained are indeed regrettable, responsibility for the latest exchanges stems yet again from the unrelenting terrorism perpetrated by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the more than 1000 rockets deliberately targeting Israeli civilians. Together with other Iranian proxies, particularly Hamas and Hezbollah, it is their collective, continued unwillingness to accept the Jewish State in any boundaries, preferring to persist in their endless ideological quest to disable and destroy Israel which underlies the ongoing conflict and violence,” he concluded.
The Zionist Federation of Australia welcomed the ceasefire. ZFA President Jeremy Leibler said: “We are relieved that the ceasefire has held and fervently hope that it is maintained. We are hopeful that by reducing Islamic Jihad’s terrorist capabilities, Israel and its citizens will be protected from rocket attacks from Gaza and a repeat will be many years away.”
AAP/J-Wire
‘… as long as the occupation abides by it …’! Islamic Jihad are obviously not up with the times. It’s many years now since Israel got out of Gaza. They have their own government now, a terrorist government. Perhaps it would be better for them to have the ‘occupiers’ back again.