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The ceasefire pact between the Israeli authorities and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) gave the Gaza Strip a break on August 8, when the first day of the truce was fulfilled, after the last escalation that left at least 44 dead Palestinians. Israel reopened border crossings into the impoverished enclave and the territory’s only power plant resumed operations.
The fragile truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) seems to hold.
After three days of clashes between the Israeli Army and Palestinian militants, which left at least 44 dead in Gaza, including 15 minorsthe inhabitants of the impoverished enclave that is home to around two million people saw the first effects of the cessation of hostilities between the two opposing parties, negotiated by Egypt.
Israel began reopening border crossings into Gaza for humanitarian reasons and said it would open them fully if calm continues.
The Yair Lapid Administration also lifted security restrictions on communities in the south of his country.
Following the decision, fuel trucks were seen entering the main cargo crossing and heading for the Gaza Strip power plant, which ceased operations on Saturday, August 6, a day after rocket fire began between YIP militants and Israeli forces.
The Palestinian enclave confirmed that its only power plant was back in operation in the last few hours.
Its outage had worsened conditions at the height of summer temperatures in the territory, which is under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade and suffers from a chronic power crisis that leaves residents with only a few hours of electricity a day.
Gazans, tired of the war between the two territories, still mourn their dead and also pick up the ruins of the destruction of the new round of violence. The worst since an 11-day war, in 2021, between Israel and the Hamas group, which controls the small territory.
No Israelis were killed or seriously injured in the fighting in recent days.. Largely due to its Iron Dome air defense system, which the country says has a success rate of around 96% in intercepting rockets from Gaza.
Israel claims it weakened Islamic Jihad
Israel claimed that its so-called ‘Dawn Break’ operation targeted Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets, in which at least two senior members of the group were killed, but also several civilians.
After reaching the truce, the leader of the YIP, Ziad al-Nakhala, declared that it was “a victory”. However, the Jewish-majority government assured that with its offensive it significantly weakened the capacities of the Islamist movement.
“There is no doubt that Islamic Jihad received a heavy blow from which it will take time to recover (…) We did not annihilate Islamic Jihad and that was not our goal,” said a senior Israeli military officer, noting the loss of two commanders, what he said would severely affect his ability to plan and conduct operations.
In addition to the two commanders, Israeli officials said around 20 fighters were killed in the strikes and large numbers of anti-tank weapons and rocket production and storage facilities were destroyed.
A spokesman for Islamic Jihad in Gaza said the group may have suffered losses in leadership and fighting strength, but was able to impose conditions on Israel and maintain unity and cohesion.
“The enemy made ending the Islamic Jihad group its battle objective, but such a dreamy and delusional objective failed (…) We own the human element, the human miracle that can repair capabilities no matter how humble they are” , said.
In the meantime, Hamas has reportedly chosen to stay out of this latest confrontation.
Aware of the danger of an escalation of the conflict, Israel was also careful to focus on Islamic Jihad’s goals to avoid drawing Hamas, a much larger and more powerful armed group with a political arm, into the confrontation.
Hamas issued statements in support of its smaller ally, but took no action against Israel as the airstrikes continued.
With Reuters, AP and EFE
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