A fragile ceasefire agreement to end nearly three days of fighting between Israeli and Palestinian militants in Gaza held overnight and into Monday morning.
The outbreak was the worst fight between Israel and militant groups in Gaza since Israel and Hamas leaders in Gaza fought an 11-day war last year.
Since Friday, Israeli warplanes have shot down targets in Gaza while the Iran-backed Palestinian Jihad militant group has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.
Members of the Palestinian Civil Defense evacuate an injured man following an explosion in the Jebaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip (Ahmad Hasaballah/AP/PA)In three days of fighting, 43 Palestinians were killed, including 15 children and four women, and 311 were injured, the Palestinian health ministry said. Israel said some of the dead were killed by misfired rockets.
On Monday, Israel said it was partially reopening crossings into Gaza for humanitarian needs and would open them fully if calm was maintained.
Security measures imposed in recent days on residents of southern Israel were gradually lifted on Monday, the army said.
Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since the group invaded the territory in 2007.
Israel launched its operation with a Friday strike against an Islamic Jihad leader, saying there were “concrete threats” of anti-tank missile attacks against Israelis in response to the arrest last week of another senior responsible for Islamic Jihad in the West Bank.
The arrest came after months of Israeli raids in the West Bank to round up suspects following a series of Palestinian attacks on Israel.
He killed another Islamic Jihad leader in a strike on Saturday.
Israel said some of the deaths in this round were caused by errant rocket fire, including an incident in the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza in which six Palestinians were killed on Saturday.
Palestinians search through the rubble of a building in which a senior Islamic Jihad militant was killed following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday (Yousef Masoud/AP/PA)On Sunday, a projectile hit a house in the same neighborhood of Jebaliya, killing two men. The Palestinians held Israel responsible, while Israel said it was investigating whether the area had been hit by an errant rocket.
In the occupied West Bank on Monday, Israeli troops demolished the homes of two Palestinians suspected of carrying out a deadly attack on Israelis in the town of Elad in May. The soldiers faced a violent protest during the operation, the army said.
US President Joe Biden has said he welcomes the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza-based militants.
“Over the past 72 hours, the United States has worked with officials from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and others across the region to encourage an early resolution. of the conflict,” he said in a statement on Sunday. .
The UN Security Council was due to hold an emergency meeting on the violence on Monday. China, which holds the council’s presidency this month, scheduled the session in response to a request from the United Arab Emirates, which represents Arab nations on the council, as well as China, France, Ireland and Norway.
The Israeli military said militants in Gaza fired around 580 rockets into Israel. The army said its air defenses intercepted many of them, and two of those shot down were fired towards Jerusalem.
Over the past year, Israel and Hamas have reached tacit agreements based on the exchange of calm for work permits and a slight relaxation of the border blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt when Hamas invaded the territory 15 years ago.
Israel has issued 12,000 work permits to workers in Gaza and plans to grant another 2,000 permits.