Negotiations underway for a ceasefire agreement. Egypt optimistic, but Jihad is slowing down
No rockets have been launched since 10pm yesterday from Gaza Strip towards Israel. Condition that bodes well for an agreement on the ceasefire ever closer after three days of intense clashes between the Israeli Security Forces (IDF) and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The rockets had been fired from the Gaza Strip in response to Israeli military air strikes against Islamic Jihad targets.
The Times of Israel writes that negotiations for a ceasefire with Egyptian mediation continued overnight, after they seemed on the verge of collapse. The Egyptian side said it was optimistic about the outcome of the talks. But senior Islamic Jihad leader Ihsan Ataya held back this morning the Egyptian enthusiasm saying that it ”cannot provide guarantees” because Israel shows ”little commitment”.
Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting with IDF leaders in Tel Aviv overnight. At the end of the meeting, the Hebrew-language media quoted Netanyahu’s office according to which the Israeli military operation in Gaza would go on ”for as long as necessary” and to ”inflict on Islamic Jihad the price of his aggression against Israeli citizens”. Channel 12 reported that all participants in the meeting agreed that the goals in Gaza had been achieved.
Several media reported that Israeli air strikes against the Gaza Strip would continue to put pressure on Islamic Jihad to accept the ceasefire agreement.
The In the meantime, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) conducted new air raids this morning against Islamic Jihad outposts in the Gaza Strip and destroyed some rocket launchers. The attack was carried out as part of Operation ‘Scudo e Freccia’ which entered its fourth day. This was confirmed by an IDF spokesman, recalling that 215 Islamic Jihad targets in the Palestinian enclave have been hit since the beginning of the operation.
AND’ Meanwhile, the death toll from the air raids conducted by the Israeli army has risen to 31 Palestinians dead and 95 injured, including some seriously on Islamic Jihad positions in the Strip. This was announced by the Ministry of Health of Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, explaining that among the victims there are women and minors. The toll is aggravated by the death this morning of a 32-year-old Palestinian who was seriously injured in an air raid on the city of Ezbet Abd Rabo in the north of the Gaza Strip. This is confirmed by medical sources from the Indonesian hospital where he was hospitalized.
Source-www.adnkronos.com