Three days after the Israeli aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip, a negotiated truce was announced between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. The truce went into effect at 11:30 PM on Sunday, Palestine time (GMT+2).
The Islamic Jihad movement confirmed the news of the truce, announcing that it welcomes the Egyptian role in reaching the agreement.
The truce followed three days of intense Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, resulting in the death of 41 Palestinians, including 15 children and 4 women. 311 Palestinians were reportedly wounded in the Israeli attack.
? BREAKING - Israel, Palestinians agree Gaza truce mediated by Egypt from Sunday evening https://t.co/3FyKcp6QVM pic.twitter.com/Y8c9EsQCiG
— FRANCE 24 – Breaking (@BreakingF24) August 7, 2022
Hundreds of Palestinian rockets were also fired on Israel as a retaliation, although no casualties on the Israeli side were reported. The Israeli army has claimed that it targeted 140 positions in Gaza.
The unprovoked Israeli attacks were widely condemned by Palestinians and many countries around the world, especially as the majority of the dead and wounded were from the civilian population. They include Turkey, South Africa, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia, among others.
Israel claimed that its war was a preemptive one to prevent an attack by the Islamic Jihad on Israeli targets. However, Israel provided no proof of such claims.
‘Fragile’ truce between Israel, Islamic Jihad holds in Gaza https://t.co/1hHAF28UF9
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 8, 2022
Tensions were building up for days prior to the war, which started on Friday. It began when the Israeli army arrested and beat an Islamic Jihad leader, Bassam al-Saadi, in the West Bank.
The Islamic Jihad had demanded that Israel must release al-Saadi. Instead, the Israeli military attacked Gaza and assassinated two top Islamic Jihad leaders, Tyseer al-Ja’bari and Khalid Mansour.
This article is adapted from its original source.
