The ceasefire between the Israelis and the Palestinian militants, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has been held overnight with no exchanges or skirmishes.
The ceasefire was brokered by the Egyptians between the 2 sides as Cairo sent a delegation which was led by a Major General.
The recent clash between both sides has killed 44 people including 15 children as per the Palestinian Health Ministry. In addition, Gaza’s health ministry has blamed “Israeli aggression” for the deaths of Palestinians and the more than 300 people wounded.
Israel has stated that they have hit 170 targets of the PIJ during the operation which was code-named “Breaking Dawn”. The Israelis have destroyed tunnels and weapon storage facilities.
In response, PIJ had fired over 400 rockets at Israel which were mostly intercepted by the Israeli air defence system but set air raid sirens and sent people into bomb shelters.
A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had information about 35 Palestinian deaths: “11 of them were uninvolved civilian casualties, including the wives of the terror group’s commanders in the south – victims of the IDF attacks.”
According to an Israeli Brigadier General Ran Kochav, another 15 civilians were killed by PIJ fire. He mentioned that 1,100 projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip during the flare-up, with 200 landing inside Gaza.
Kochav claims that more Palestinians were killed by the rockets that landed and exploded in the Gaza strip compared to IDF’s strikes.
No Israeli casualties have been reported, however, a few people were slightly injured from debris on Saturday.
Israel has been lifting blockade of Gaza and allowing fuel trucks to enter. When the fight broke out, Israelis shut the borders and stopped fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip, which crippled its power supply.