The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) has reported that unspecified Palestinian militants within the Gaza Strip violated a nascent ceasefire after solely quarter-hour, telling Newsweek it intercepted a rocket fired in the direction of southern Israel.
Rocket sirens sounded within the evacuated southern Israeli cities of Kissufim and Ein HaShlosha early on Friday morning, shortly after a four-day ceasefire got here into impact that may enable a prisoner trade and the supply of humanitarian support into the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip.
“There was a rocket and it was intercepted,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit informed Newsweek of the studies, noting it was fired at 7:15 a.m. native time; quarter-hour after the ceasefire—which the IDF is looking an “operational pause”—got here into impact.
It’s not but clear which group was answerable for the alleged rocket launch, although the IDF has beforehand stated Hamas bears duty for any assaults from Gaza into southern Israel given it holds affect over different native militant teams.
JACK GUEZ/AFP through Getty Photos
Newsweek has contacted a Hamas spokesperson by WhatsApp to request remark.
Friday’s pause within the preventing comes after a number of weeks of robust negotiations between Israel, Hamas, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar. It’s the first vital break in fight for the reason that Hamas infiltration assault into southern Israel on October 7, which killed some 1,200 folks and noticed round 240 taken again into the Gaza Strip as hostages.
Israel’s bombardment of the Strip started instantly, and up to now has killed greater than 13,000 Palestinians, in line with information from the Gaza Well being Ministry cited by the Related Press. The ministry has now stopped releasing up to date casualty figures, saying it isn’t attainable to maintain observe of the rising loss of life toll amid Israel’s offensive.
The truce will enable lots of of humanitarian support vehicles to enter the Gaza Strip by way of the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt. However there seems little hope of an imminent finish to the preventing.
Israeli leaders have vowed to “crush and destroy” Hamas in Gaza, a 141-square-mile coastal strip of land managed by the Islamist group since 2007. The statelet has been beneath Israeli-Egyptian blockade since that very same 12 months.
Intense IDF-Hamas clashes have taken place within the northern portion of the Strip for a number of weeks, with Israeli authorities ordering native residents to evacuate to the south. However the IDF seems to be getting ready for an offensive into the southern a part of Gaza quickly after the present truce ends.
On Friday morning, The Occasions of Israel reported that the IDF used riot dispersal measures to stop Palestinians returning to their properties within the northern a part of the Strip amid the pause in preventing.
Replace 11/24/23, 03:45 a.m. ET: This story has been up to date with additional particulars.
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