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Israel bombs Gaza for a third day, Islamic Jihad rockets reach west of Jerusalem, as truce in sight

Israel airstrikes pounded Islamic Jihad positions in the Gaza Strip for a third day Sunday as violence escalated, with 31 Palestinians killed and militants firing their first rockets at Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, “efforts are being made at the highest level for a cease-fire in Gaza,” an Islamic Jihad spokesman told The Media Line.

According to Egyptian news reports and Palestinian sources, Cairo’s efforts to reach truce a cease-fire are about to bear fruit, but Islamic Jihad spokesman Tariq Salmi told The Media Line. “Any talk about mediation is premature, in light of the targeting of our leaders. It’s the decision of the resistance on the battlefield.”

Reports unconfirmed by spokesmen on either side say that both Israel and Islamic Jihad have already agreed to the Egyptian-brokered truce, to take effect at 8 pm.

If the reports of an imminent cease-fire are true, this could explain Sunday afternoon’s spike in rocket launching.

Six children were among those killed since the Israeli Air Force began its operation against Islamic Jihad on Friday.

Israel offered what it said was visual proof that an explosion killing four children and an adult in the Jabaliya refugee camp on Saturday night was from a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket and claimed that 15% of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip fell short of the Israeli border and landed in the Strip. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip dispute these claims.

More than 300 people have been wounded in Gaza since Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Strip reported.

Footage from the coastal territory showed several buildings reduced to rubble as rescue workers tried to pull survivors out from underneath destroyed buildings.

The latest round of fighting is the worst in Gaza since the 11-day war in May 2021.

Israel says it has succeeded in targeting the military leaders of the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad group.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has said his country was talking with both sides “around the clock” in an effort to stop the violence.

An Islamic Jihad official in Gaza told The Media Line that the killing of Khaled Mansour, one of the top officials in Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, made reaching a truce “very difficult.”

An Al-Quds Brigades spokesman called on all members of the group in the West Bank to engage in this “epic” battle called “the unity of the battlefield.”

Gaza-based political analyst Mansour Abu Karim told The Media Line that the element of surprise had enabled the Israeli military to inflict major damage on the group’s structure.

“Undoubtedly, the Israeli army was able to deal a painful blow to the Islamic Jihad movement, its field leadership, and its military sites, and succeeded in separating them and affecting the morale of its leadership,” Abu Karim said.

Ramallah-based political analyst Fares Sarfandi told The Media Line that news of a Cairo-brokered truce may be premature.

“This is part of Israeli propaganda and an attempt to prove that this government was able to achieve victory and achievement. There is an attempt by some to invest politically in their favor from this military operation in the upcoming elections,” he said.

Sarfandi spoke forthrightly about the issue of Hamas’ “lack of intervention” in the campaign, explaining that the Islamist movement must be responsible and weigh its options carefully.

“This is a battle that cannot achieve any political goal for Hamas. Its intervention could be a sin and not a mistake because things would spin out of control and give the green light to the Israeli occupation to expand the battle, leading to massive destruction in the impoverished coastal enclave,” Sarfandi said.

Emad Abu Awad, a political analyst based in the West Bank, told The Media Line there are both “direct and indirect reasons behind the Israeli aggression against Gaza.

“During former Prime Minister [Binyamin Netanyahu’s] tenure, he had the upper hand, even on the security level,” Abu Awad said, adding that current caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz “want to prove that they are on the same level of responsibility as Netanyahu.”

There was a belief in the Israeli security circles during the Netanyahu era, he exercised close control over the security establishment.

Abu Awad also said that an Israeli desire to restore deterrence on the Gaza Strip front played a role in the decision to target Islamic Jihad.

“The security level now, with Gantz’s presence, believes that he has regained control and that he influences and determines what happens, not the political level,” he said.

There is an Israeli belief that the Gaza Strip, led by Hamas, is not interested in engaging in a military confrontation.

“In my opinion, Hamas’ lack of direct participation stems from the fact that Hamas has responsibilities through its rule of the Strip, bearing the burdens of providing for the needs of the citizens there,” Abu Awad said.

“Hamas recently felt that the siege on Gaza had begun to ease a little, with more than 15,000 workers with permits allowed to work in Israel and the supply of fuel to the Strip on a regular basis,” Abu Awad said, adding that the continued injection of some $30 million from Qatar to the Strip affects the Islamist group’s decision to not take part in firing rockets at Israel.

Esmat Mansour, a Ramallah-based political analyst, told The Media Line these rocket attacks were forced on Islamic Jihad by Israel and came as a surprise to the movement, adding that relative calm over the last year and improved living standards may have contributed to other Palestinian factions not fighting alongside Islamic Jihad.

“Gaza is witnessing relative stability and the economic situation is the best in more than 10 years. If Hamas joins with Islamic Jihad, it will lead to direct confrontation with Israel and risk losing everything,” rendering such a decision “difficult,” Mansour said.

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