Israel bombards Gaza two hours after the truce came into force at 19:00 GMT with Palestinian militias from the Strip, in response to the launch of two rockets after the cease-fire deadline mediated by Egypt.
“The Army is currently attacking the Gaza Strip,” a military spokesman confirmed in a brief statement.
Technically both parties have violated the truce that put an end to five days of war escalation, in which 34 Gazans have died -one of them in Israel- and an elderly Israeli woman.
The agreement, reached with the mediation of Egypt, includes the commitment to “stop attacking civilians and houses”, and entered into force at 22:00 local time (19:00 GMT).
Although the ceasefire has not been complied with, it cannot be ruled out that the parties contain themselves overnight and do not resume the escalation, unleashed last Tuesday when Israel launched operation “Shield and Arrow” with the aim of killing senior security officials. Islamic Jihad.
Precisely tonight, Israel participates in the Eurovision Song Contest with the motto “United by Music”.
The measures will continue until Monday.
Muhamed al Hindi, a senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (YIP) who was in Cairo, has said that his organization – considered a terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union – “will respect the ceasefire agreement as long as the enemy Israeli adheres to it.
For his part, Israel’s National Security Adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, thanked Egypt and confirmed that his country accepted a ceasefire, but warned that it “will continue to do whatever is necessary to defend itself” if it receives new attacks.
The announcement was released at the same time that a burst of rockets was fired from the Gaza Strip, to which the Israeli Army responded, almost immediately, with new bombardments on the enclave, bordering on the entry time of the truce.
“In response to the rockets, Israeli aviation attacked five hidden rocket launchers and a military post used as a training facility for the terrorist organization” YIP, said an Israeli Army spokesman about the last bombardment prior to the truce, broken two hours later. .
Exceptional measures, such as movement and assembly restrictions for Israelis living 40km around the Gaza Strip, will continue until Monday, but authorities have not announced when they will reopen the border with Gaza, vital to replenishing basic services in Gaza. the impoverished enclave.
The only electricity generator in the Strip, where 2.5 million inhabitants live, was about to run out of fuel, while hospitals were overwhelmed and one of them suffered serious damage.
The damage to infrastructure is extensive, as one hundred buildings were destroyed in the enclave, many of them residential, and the only hospital in the center of the enclave has suffered severe damage.
Rumors of an imminent ceasefire, mediated by Egypt, the UN and Qatar, had been circulating for several days, but both parties to the conflict claimed that the negotiations were becoming “very difficult”, apparently due to Israel’s refusal to stop the killings of high command of the YIP. The group has lost 18 militiamen, including 6 senior officers.
Since Tuesday, the Army has successfully attacked 371 YIP targets -including homes of its members and military installations-, while the Islamist group has fired 1,234 projectiles from the Strip -rockets and mortars- most of which fell on unpopulated terrain or was intercepted by the anti-aircraft system.
A total of 33 Gazans died inside the Strip – at least 15 civilians including 7 children – and 147 were injured, according to the latest count by the enclave’s Ministry of Health.
On the Israeli side, there were two fatalities: an elderly woman was killed Thursday when a rocket hit her building in Rehovot, and a Gazan with a work permit in Israel today from shrapnel while grazing near the enclave.
