After three days of aggression, calm in Gaza, Israel lifts emergency state

Mohammed El-Said
2 Min Read

Palestinian officials announced early on Monday the succession of the efforts of Egypt, the United Nations, and Qatar to mediate a truce to halt the bloody Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.

While Israel made no comment, the Israeli army said that the state of emergency in towns near the Gaza Strip have been cancelled and normalcy has been restored for the residents of southern Israel.

More than 29 Palestinians were killed and hundreds were wounded as a result of the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Four Israeli citizens were killed due to the rockets fired from Gaza toward Israeli towns.  

The Israeli army said on Sunday that more than 600 rockets and other projectiles had been intercepted by the Iron Dome system, over 150 of which had been fired at towns and villages in southern Israel since Friday.

Israeli forces also stated that it attacked about 260 targets belonging to armed movements in Gaza, particularly Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

Moreover, Israeli aircrafts destroyed a building in the centre of the Gaza Strip, including the office of the Anadolu Agency—the move which was strongly condemned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Fighter jets targeted the building of 7 floors with at least five missiles, causing the destruction of the entire building, without causing injuries among the agency’s staff.

The latest wave of aggression began two days ago when a sniper from the Islamic Jihad shot at Israeli troops across the border, wounding two soldiers, said the Israeli army.

A spokesperson for the Israeli army, Jonathan Conricus, said that the 7th brigade had been deployed to the border with Gaza on standby for an offensive mission.

“An armoured brigade is ready for various contingencies but earmarked for an offensive mission being by definition a mission that goes inside enemy terrain,” Conricus added.

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Mohammed El-Said is the Science Editor for the Daily News Egypt with over 8 years of experience as a journalist. His work appeared in the Science Magazine, Nature Middle East, Scientific American Arabic Edition, SciDev and other regional and international media outlets. El-Said graduated with a bachelor's degree and MSc in Human Geography, and he is a PhD candidate in Human Geography at Cairo University. He also had a diploma in media translation from the American University in Cairo.