Rocket and rocket fire between Israel and armed groups in Gaza continued overnight to a lesser extent than in the previous three days, during which 31 people were killed.
Egypt, a traditional mediator between the warring parties, has been working to broker a ceasefire as international calls mount for an end to the escalation, the most serious since August 2022, between armed groups in Gaza and Israel.
The escalation began on Tuesday with Israeli strikes targeting Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization designated by Israel, the European Union and the United States.
Mohammed al-Hidi, an official in the political wing of Islamic Jihad who arrived in Cairo yesterday, Thursday, said he hoped the talks aimed at a truce "will be completed today (Friday)".
"We hope to reach a decent agreement, which reflects the interests of our people and the resistance," he told AFP.
Sources close to the negotiations told AFP that Egypt had achieved the beginning of a de-escalation in the field.
During the night, Israeli strikes on Gaza and Palestinian rocket launches into Israel continued, but more limited, AFP journalists found.
The Israeli military announced that it had targeted Islamic Jihad military installations and rocket launch sites. According to eyewitnesses, three strikes occurred at dawn in the Rafah sector, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
In Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip, the latest rocket warning sirens sounded late yesterday evening, Thursday, after previously sounding regularly throughout the day.
According to the Israeli armed forces, during the latest escalation 866 Palestinian rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, of which 672 hit Israeli territory and 194 landed in Gaza or the Mediterranean Sea. According to the same source, 260 rockets were intercepted by the Israeli air defense system "Iron Dome" (the percentage of successful interceptions reached 91%), while Israel hit 170 terrorist targets.
Casualties among Israeli civilians from Palestinian rockets were 1 dead and 16 wounded. According to the Israeli police, one person was killed yesterday, Thursday, in Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, by a rocket that hit an apartment building.
– “Great concern” –
In Gaza City, the streets were again this morning empty of residents, who remained locked in their homes, while most shops were closed.
The Ministry of Health spoke of 30 dead since Tuesday, including children, and more than 90 injured.
The dead included five Islamic Jihad military commanders targeted by Israel, as well as fighters from that movement and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), another armed group.
An Islamic Jihad source told AFP today that "one of the most important conditions for a ceasefire is for Israel to stop killing in Gaza and the West Bank."
Yesterday, Thursday, the European Union called for an "immediate ceasefire" and Washington called on all parties "to act to prevent civilian deaths and (…) to reduce violence".
Source: RES-EIA
