A truce was announced on Wednesday (May 3rd) in the Gaza Strip after 24 hours of exchanges of fire between armed groups and Israel, which claimed the life of a Palestinian and left several injured, Palestinian sources reported.
This new outbreak of violence comes after the death on Tuesday of Khader Adnane, an official of the Islamic Jihad organization who had been on hunger strike for nearly three months in an Israeli prison.
The sequel after the ad
After 24 hours raising fears of an escalation, Islamic Jihad announced a truce before dawn on Wednesday. Israel, for its part, did not react immediately.
A “cycle of confrontation” ended
“We managed to establish a lull and both sides responded to it from this (Wednesday) morning”an Egyptian security source also told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
Qatar and the UN, other traditional mediators between Palestinian organizations and Israel, also intervened to establish a return to calm, from 04:00 (01:00 GMT), Islamic Jihad and Hamas sources told the AFP.
However, rocket warning sirens sounded in Israeli localities near the Gaza Strip around 5:30 a.m. (0230 GMT), the army reported.
The sequel after the ad
“We are in a situation of chaos”: in Israel, the clash of Jewish and Arab youth
According to witnesses in Gaza, several rockets were fired at Israeli soil at this time.
“This cycle of confrontation is over but the march of resistance continues and will not stop”Islamic Jihad spokesman Tariq Salmi said in a statement.
In the morning, shops, schools and administrations reopened in Gaza. Life has also resumed in adjacent Israeli communities.
The remains have not yet been handed over to the next of kin
The death of Khader Adnane was announced Tuesday morning, but his body has still not been handed over to his relatives. Originally from the occupied West Bank, this 40-year-old began a new hunger strike at the start of his incarceration on February 5 and became the first Palestinian detainee to succumb to it, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.
The sequel after the ad
The president of this association, Qaddoura Fares, told AFP that the Palestinian Authority had “yesterday (Tuesday) asked Israel to receive the body of Khader Adnane, without getting a response”.
“We stress, as we have told all the mediators who intervened, the need to hand over the body of the martyr Khader Adnane to his family”said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Violence in Jerusalem, airstrikes: towards a new war in Gaza?
Adnane had been indicted for his involvement in Islamic Jihad and for speeches in support of a « organisation hostile »an Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Imprisoned many times by Israel, he had gone on several hunger strikes and had become a symbol for the Palestinians.
The sequel after the ad
The military appeals court had rejected his request for release, according to the Israeli official.
Several retaliatory strikes on Gaza
Since Tuesday morning, some 100 rockets have been fired by armed groups from Gaza into Israel, according to Islamic Jihad and the Israeli army.
Most of the projectiles fell into vacant lots or were intercepted by the anti-aircraft defense system, according to the Israeli army, which counted a total of 104.
Two fell in the Israeli town of Sderot and three people were injured by shrapnel, rescue workers said.
Fifteen years later, the hope of elections in Palestine
During the night, the Israeli army carried out several retaliatory strikes on Gaza, territory under Israeli blockade since the takeover of the Islamist Hamas in 2007.
The sequel after the ad
It notably targeted a training camp, a weapons warehouse and an underground Hamas tunnel.
A 58-year-old man died north of Gaza City and five others were injured in the raids, according to the Palestinian Territory’s health ministry.
The warning of European diplomacy
In Brussels, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell stressed the EU’s commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself, but recalled that “any response” had to “be proportionate and consistent with international law”during a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
In August 2022, three days of clashes between Israel and Islamic Jihad left 49 Palestinians dead, including 12 members of Islamic Jihad according to the movement, and at least 19 children according to the UN.
About 200 rockets were fired by Islamic Jihad from Gaza into Israel, injuring three.
