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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestinians-gaza-agree-ceasefire-days-bombardment">middleeasteye.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel and Palestinians agree ceasefire following days of Gaza bombardment</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Mohammed al-Hajjar ,
Lubna Masarwa ,
Huthifa Fayyad</div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">August 7, 2022<br></div>
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<div><p>The third day of <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israel’s</a> assault on Gaza - which has so far killed 44 <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">Palestinians</a>, including 15 children, and injured hundreds more - has ended with an <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/egypt" target="_blank">Egypt</a>-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions.</p>
<p>The ceasefire came into effect at 11:30pm local time (8:30pm GMT) on
Sunday. Both Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement,
the main target of Israel in this round of fighting, have confirmed the
ceasefire and claimed victory. </p>
<p>According to the PIJ chief Ziyad Nakhla, the group came out on top
after Israel failed to destroy its capabilities as it promised it would
do. He also said the ceasefire was conditioned on the release of two PIJ
officials arrested in the occupied West Bank by Israel.</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-gaza-five-year-old-palestinian-killed-family-mourn" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/SAMR4975_0.jpg?itok=4P5K-Gpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="245"></a></p><p><font size="1">'She was preparing for pre-school': Five-year-old Palestinian killed by Israeli army mourned in Gaza</font></p>
</div>
<p>Nakhla, speaking from Iran where he is visiting, added that if the two men were not released soon, fighting would be resumed.</p>
<p>He said Khalil Awawdeh, who has been on hunger strike for more than
145 days protesting against his administrative detention by Israel,
would be transferred to the hospital on Monday and go to his home from
there. The other prisoner is Bassam al-Saadi, whose <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-forces-arrest-senior-islamic-jihad-leader-raid-kills-palestinian-youth" target="_blank">arrest last week</a> in Jenin sparked tensions that led to the violence.</p>
<p>In Israel, Prime Minister Yair Lapid thanked Egypt for its role in
facilitating the truce deal, adding that "if the ceasefire is violated,
the State of Israel maintains the right to respond strongly".</p>
<p>The caretaker premier, who is set to run for general elections in
November, had told southern municipal leaders earlier that Israel had
achieved its goals in the three-day operation.</p>
<h3>Air strike at cemetery</h3>
<p>Hours before the ceasefire came into force, a string of suspected
Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip killed nine Palestinian
children and wounded many others.</p>
<p>In one blast, five boys aged between five years old and 14, were
killed while they sat next to their grandfather's grave in the Falluja
cemetery in northern Gaza, according to eyewitness Mohammad Sami.</p>
<p>"I was watching the boys after they bought something from the grocery
store and then went to sit by the grave," Sami told Middle East Eye.</p>
<p>Four of the boys were cousins, and the fifth was their friend.</p>
<div>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/MAJD3040-min.jpg" alt="Damage to graves in Falluja cemetery, 7 August 2022 (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="392" height="261"></p>
<font size="1">Damage to graves in Falluja cemetery, 7 August 2022 (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)</font></div>
<p><span></span>According to Sami, their names were Jameel Nejm Nejm, four or five
years old, Mohamad Salah Nejm, seven or eight, Jameel Ihab Nejm, 14,
Hamed Haidar Nejm, 14 or 16, and Nazmi Abu Karsh. </p>
<p>"They come to sit here every day. Every day," Sami said. "This is a safe area, they are used to being here."</p>
<p>In another air strike, a civilian car was hit, killing at least one person. </p>
<p>Yet another strike killed three children, all siblings, from the
al-Nabahin family, according to the Palestinian ministry of health. </p>
<h3>Airport targeted</h3>
<p>Meanwhile, Palestinian rockets fired from Gaza targeted Ben Gurion
international airport, near Tel Aviv, with at least two missiles
intercepted by the Iron Dome air defence system, according to Israeli
media.</p>
<p>Planes heading to Ben Gurion airport were asked to wait before
landing and those set for departure were halted and passengers asked to
disembark.</p>
<p>There were no reports of any damage or injuries. </p>
<p>And a barrage of Palestinian rockets was fired towards various
Israeli cities on Sunday evening, with sirens sounded in the central
cities of Tel Aviv, Rishon Letzion, Bat Yam, Holon, Ramle and Lydd
(Lod), as well as the southern cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod.</p>
<p>Only three people had been lightly wounded in Israel by the shrapnel
of Palestinian rockets since Friday, according to Israeli emergency
services.</p>
<h3>Funerals</h3>
<p>Earlier in the day, funerals had been held for Palestinians killed
late on Saturday, when Israeli air strikes that hit two densely
populated areas in the Gaza Strip left at least 14 people dead.</p>
<p>Monira Nofal, the aunt of Khalil Abu Hamada, 19, was still in shock
after the death of her nephew, who was killed along with five others,
including four children, in a suspected Israeli attack on Jabalia camp,
north of the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p><span><img src="cid:ii_l6k0p8pp2" alt="image.gif" width="15" height="15"></span>"He was his parents' only child, they had him after trying to have a baby for more than 12 years," Nofal told MEE. </p>
<p>Israel denied being behind the air strike, but Palestinian sources say it could not have come from anywhere else. </p>
<div>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/The%20friend%20of%20a%20young%20Palestinian%20killed%20during%20the%20night%20in%20the%20Jabalia%20refugee%20camp%20in%20the%20northern%20Gaza%20Strip%2C%20reacts%20during%20his%20funeral%20in%20the%20same%20camp%2C%20on%20August%207%2C%202022.%20AFP_0.jpg" alt="The friend of a young Palestinian killed during the night in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, reacts during his funeral in the same camp, 7 August 2022 (AFP)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="392" height="265"></p>
<font size="1">The friend of a young Palestinian killed during the night in
the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, reacts during his
funeral in the same camp, 7 August 2022 (AFP)</font></div>
<p>Abu Hamada's father had been preparing a new apartment for the
19-year-old to help him get married. He had gone outside his home late
on Saturday to check a problem with his father's car, parked outside the
house when the shell hit, Nofal said.</p>
<p>"He was was good boy, spoiled and beautiful, and everyone loved him," she added.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, rescue workers continued their work to pull out bodies
trapped under the rubble in Rafah city, in the south of the Gaza strip,
where another Israeli air strike killed at least eight people, including
a 14-year-old boy.</p>
<div><p>Adeeb Ahmad, an eyewitness to the attack, told MEE the attack came with no warnings. </p><p>
"The house was hit without any prior notice," Ahmad said. "Homes are
overcrowded here, housing seven to eight people each, and they are so
close to each other, so when one house is hit several houses around it
are impacted.</p></div>
<p>"This arrogant enemy deepens its crimes against our people." </p>
<h3>Condemned</h3>
<p>Earlier on Sunday, the PIJ and Hamas condemned the assassination of
Khalid Mansour, commander of the southern division in Gaza of the
al-Quds Brigades (Saraya al-Quds), the military wing of the PIJ.</p>
<p>Mansour was killed in an air strike that hit an overcrowded area in
Rafah city, in the south of the Gaza Strip, late on Saturday. At least
seven people were killed in the attack, including two other PIJ
fighters, Ziad Ahmed al-Mdalal and Rafat Saleh Sheikh al-Eid, as well as
a 14-year-old child and two women. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>'While we mourn the dead, we confirm that their death will not go in vain'</p>
<p><em>- Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>"The Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine and its military arm, Saraya
al-Quds, mourn the martyrdom of the fallen fighters and civilians who
were killed in a violent Zionist aggression that targeted a residential
area in the al-Sha'ut camp in the city of Rafah," the group said in a
statement. </p>
<p>"While we mourn the dead, we confirm that their death will not go in
vain and that our fighters will not let their blood dry before they
attack the enemy's settlements with our rockets," it said.</p>
<p>The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, issued a
similar statement mourning Khalid Mansour and Taiseer al-Jabari, head of
the northern division of al-Quds Brigades, who was killed on Friday. </p>
<p>Khalid Mansour was the second high-ranking Saraya al-Quds commander
to be killed by Israel in the operation, after it had assassinated
Taiseer al-Jabari, head of the northern division of brigades, on
Friday. </p>
<h3>Al-Aqsa Mosque stormed</h3>
<p>Also on Sunday morning, scores of Israeli ultra-nationalists, including settlers, stormed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPOfy062saU" target="_blank">Al-Aqsa Mosque</a> in occupied East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Protected by heavily armed Israeli forces, the storming began at
around 7am local time and continued for three hours, as Israelis marked
the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'av. </p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-storm-al-aqsa-mosque-gaza-bombing" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/000_32G64VN.jpg?itok=d8Ei7Mqy" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="245"></a></p><p><font size="1">Israelis storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in large numbers amid Gaza bombing</font> </p>
</div>
<p>During the tours in the courtyards of the mosque, settlers performed
religious prayers and raised the Israeli flag, in contravention of <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-aqsa-mosque-raids-incursions-explained" target="_blank">long-standing agreements</a> on the site. </p>
<p>According to local Palestinian media, at least 1,700 Israelis had stormed the site in the morning.</p>
<p>Small groups of Muslim worshippers who were inside the mosque during the raids were assaulted by Israeli forces. </p>
<p>Outside the mosque, located in Jerusalem's ancient Old City,
skirmishes occurred between Israeli ultra-nationalists and Palestinian
residents. </p>
<p> Some Israeli activists were seen chanting anti-Muslim slogans, such as "Mohammed is Dead", referring to Islam's prophet. </p>
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