Israel has reopened its border crossings to the Gaza Strip following the agreed ceasefire with the militant Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad. The Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Twitter today that the Erez border crossing and the Kerem Shalom goods crossing are open again.
The ministry also released images of tankers and trucks apparently crossing the border. The day before, the ministry had published videos from surveillance cameras on social networks showing mortar attacks directly at the Erez border crossing.
There have been dozens of such attacks at the two crossings in the past few days. The opening of the crossings indicated a real easing after several days of fighting – as it did after the escalation between Israel and Islamic Jihad last August.
The ceasefire mediated by Egypt held for the time being. It came into effect yesterday at 10 p.m. local time (9 p.m. CEST). Mutual attacks broke out more than an hour later, but subsided in the early hours of the morning.