Truce declared by Israel and PIJ
Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group have declared a truce, raising hopes of an end to the most serious flare-up on the Gaza frontier in more than a year.
Israelis rest in a bomb shelter following rocket attacks fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Israel has killed two senior Islamic Jihad militants in three days of air strikes in the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian militants have launched nearly 600 rockets at Israel. Palestinian officials say at least 31 people in Gaza have died. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
Israeli forces pounded Palestinian targets through the weekend, triggering rocket attacks against its cities, which largely tapered off when the truce came into effect at 2330 on Sunday (0630 on Monday AEST).
It was announced in separate statements by Islamic Jihad and then Israel, who both thanked Egypt for mediating the ceasefire.
The three-day clashes echoed preludes to previous Gaza wars, though they were relatively contained as Hamas, the governing Islamist group in the Gaza Strip and a more powerful force than Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, had so far stayed out.
Gaza officials said 44 Palestinians, almost half of them civilians and including children, had been killed.
The rockets have threatened much of southern Israel and sent residents in cities including Tel Aviv and Ashkelon to shelters.
Israel launched what it called pre-emptive strikes on Friday against what it anticipated would be an Islamic Jihad attack meant to avenge the arrest of a leader of the group, Bassam al-Saadi, in the occupied West Bank.
In response, Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rockets at Israel. At a news conference in Tehran, the group’s leader Ziyad al-Nakhala, said Cairo would “work to secure the release” of al-Saadi.
Israeli and Egyptian officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Sunday, Islamic Jihad extended its range to fire toward Jerusalem in what it described as retaliation for the overnight killing of its southern Gaza commander by Israel – the second such senior officer it has lost in the fighting.
Israel said its Iron Dome interceptor shot down the rockets just west of the city.
The military said others had fallen short, causing several Gaza fatalities, while Hamas said all the Palestinian deaths were caused by the Israeli strikes.
In a statement, US President Joe Biden welcomed the truce and called for an investigation into civilian casualties, whether they were caused by Israeli strikes or by Islamic Jihad rockets that reportedly fell inside Gaza.
Dazed by another surge of bloodshed – after outbreaks of war in 2008-09, 2012, 2014 and last year – Palestinians picked through the ruins of houses to salvage belongings.
“Who wants a war? No one. But we also don’t like to keep silent when women, children and leaders are killed,” said a Gaza taxi driver who identified himself only as Abu Mohammad.
“An eye for an eye.”
AAP report
In Sydney, The Executive Council of Australian Jewry welcomed the ceasefire in Gaza that has come into effect after 3 days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
In a statement, ECAJ said PIJ was established in Gaza in 1981 with the avowed aim of annihilating the State of Israel by force and imposing Islamic religious law. It has a long record of firing rockets aimed at civilian targets in Israel and using Palestinian civilians and civilian buildings and neighbourhoods in Gaza as cover for launching its attacks. PIJ is listed as a terrorist organisation by Australia and numerous other countries.
The recent fighting began when Israel discovered that PIJ was about to initiate yet another round of attacks against Israeli civilians, a charge that PIJ has not denied.
“Under international law, Israel has the right and duty to defend its citizens and territory against armed attacks, and this includes the right to take pre-emptive action against an imminent attack”, said ECAJ Co-CEO Peter Wertheim. “It was gratifying to note that Australia’s ambassador to Israel, Paul Griffiths, publicly confirmed that ‘Australia respects Israel’s right to defend itself’.”
“In stark contrast to PIJ’s tactics of attacking civilians indiscriminately, Israel’s response was both necessary and proportionate, being directed specifically at PIJ targets, including two PIJ commanders who were killed”, Wertheim noted. “Hamas did not join with PIJ on this occasion and consequently, Israel did not take action against Hamas. Inevitably there were also civilian casualties, some of them caused by misfired PIJ rockets which fell short of their targets in Israel and landed in Gaza instead. Every civilian victim is a tragedy and is to be regretted. The responsibility lies squarely with PIJ.”
Wertheim also called for political pressure to be placed on Palestinian leaders to abandon their eliminationist attitudes towards Israel once and for all.
“Instead of the ceasefire being a mere interlude until the next round of fighting, it is well past time for all Palestinian organisations to fundamentally alter their attitude and approach to Israel”, he said.
“Instead of envisaging Israel as a historical aberration that is illegitimate and destined to disappear, Palestinian leaders need to wake up to the reality that the Jewish people have deep roots in the land and that Israel is here to stay. In short, they need to start acting like leaders instead of continuing to submit to the most extreme and bigoted elements among them.”
Dr Colin Rubenstein, the executive director of The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, added: “The Gaza ceasefire is welcome, after the Iran proxy terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired approximately 1,100 rockets at Israel, around 20 per cent of which fell in Gaza.
AIJAC hopes it holds and the PIJ remains deterred from further terrorist violence. Gaza is a tinderbox for the region, a gross threat to Israel, and a terrible place to live for its inhabitants.
The only way to end this awful reality is to disarm the terror groups that make it so – Hamas and PIJ.
We are pleased that many countries, including Australia, the US, the UK and various European nations, made statements affirming Israel’s right to self-defence.
It is now time for the international community to make concerted efforts to achieve such disarmament if there is to be any hope of avoiding another similar conflict in the coming months.
