GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Calm returned Tuesday after a two-day flare-up in and around Gaza as a truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad appeared to take hold after initial jitters.
The Israeli military reported no rocket fire from the territory during the morning and AFP correspondents in Gaza reported no Israeli strikes.
The main border crossing between the Palestinian enclave and Israel was due to reopen at 9a.m. to allow medical cases and foreign nationals to leave, Palestinian officials said.
Islamic Jihad announced the truce on Monday evening but later briefly backtracked, accusing Israel of breaching it.
A rocket or mortar round fired from Gaza hit open ground in Israel shortly before midnight Monday, a spokeswoman for Shaar Hanegev regional council said.
Islamic Jihad is the second largest militant group in Gaza after dominant Islamist movement Hamas.
As with other Gaza truces, there was no official Israeli confirmation and the army ordered the parents of some 65,000 pupils in communities near the Gaza border to keep their children home for a second day.
Islamic Jihad fired more than 50 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel after the army killed one of its fighters on Sunday morning.
Many were intercepted by Israeli air defenses and there were no reports of casualties. One rocket hit a playground but it was empty at the time.
Israeli fighter jets and helicopters responded with strikes on Islamic Jihad targets across Gaza, as well as in neighboring Syria.
Sunday’s fighting was the most intense between Israel and Islamic Jihad since November, when Israeli air strikes killed senior commanders from the group.
That three-day flare-up saw 35 Palestinians killed and more than 100 wounded, according to official figures.
There were no Israeli deaths despite hundreds of rockets being fired from Gaza.
Islamic Jihad did not accept a wider truce Hamas agreed with Israel in late 2018 and renewed after successive flare-ups last year.
Under the truce, Israel has allowed Hamas ally Qatar to provide fuel for Gaza’s sole power station and millions of dollars for cash payouts to the needy, among other relaxations of its more than decade-old blockade in exchange for a let-up in the violence.
Hamas and Israel last fought a full-scale war in 2014, but smaller flare-ups have been relatively common.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is battling for re-election on March 2 in the shadow of an impending corruption trial, threatened an “extensive campaign” to end the rocket fire.
Israel has fought three wars with Palestinian militants in Gaza since 2008, most recently in 2014.
Calm returns after two-day flare-up in and around Gaza
https://arab.news/6g72f
Calm returns after two-day flare-up in and around Gaza
- The Israeli military reported no rocket fire from the territory during the morning
- There were no Israeli deaths despite hundreds of rockets being fired from Gaza
Iran unrest persists, top judge warns protesters
- Demonstrations sparked by soaring inflation
- Western provinces worst affected
DUBAI: Iran’s top judge warned protesters on Wednesday there would be “no leniency for those who help the enemy against the Islamic Republic,” while accusing Israel and the US of pursuing hybrid methods to disrupt the country.
The current protests, the biggest wave of dissent in three years, began last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar by shopkeepers condemning the currency’s free fall.
Unrest has since spread nationwide amid deepening distress over economic hardships, including rocketing inflation driven by mismanagement and Western sanctions, and curbs on political and social freedoms.
“Following announcements by Israel and the US president, there is no excuse for those coming to the streets for riots and unrest, chief justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of Iran’s judiciary, was quoted as saying by state media.
“From now on, there will be no leniency for whoever helps the enemy against the Islamic Republic and the calm of the people,” Ejei said.
Iranian authorities have not given a death toll for protesters, but have said at least two members of the security services have died and more than a dozen have been injured.
Iran’s western provinces have witnessed the most violent protests.
“During the funeral of two people in Malekshahi on Tuesday, a number of attendees began chanting harsh, anti-system slogans,” said Iran’s Fars, news agency.
After the funeral, Fars said, “about 100 mourners went into the city and trashed three banks ... Some started shooting at the police trying to disperse them.”
The semi-official Mehr news agency said protesters stormed a food store and emptied bags of rice, which has been affected by galloping inflation that has made ordinary staples increasingly unaffordable for many Iranians.
