Fragile ceasefire ends Israel-Gaza conflict after five days of fighting

As of Monday, May 15, this was the status of the onslaught by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza against Israel. Let's hope it holds as Heritage goes to press.

(JTA) - Fighting between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza ended after five days, as a ceasefire took effect and appeared to hold late Saturday night.

Over the course of the fighting, 33 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, including civilians and combatants. Two civilians were killed in Israel - a woman in the central Israeli city of Rehovot and a Gaza resident who was working in a town on the Israeli side of the border.

Islamic Jihad shot more than 1,000 rockets at Israel during the conflict; many that were aimed at populated areas were intercepted by Israel's missile defense systems, and some fell short in Gaza. Israel conducted hundreds of airstrikes in Gaza, killing six Islamic Jihad leaders.

This round of fighting began on Tuesday as Israel assassinated senior leaders of Islamic Jihad, which is designated by the United States and European Union as a terror group. Those assassinations followed a day of heavy conflict between the two sides one week earlier, after a senior member of Islamic Jihad died of a hunger strike in Israeli prison. Tuesday's airstrikes also came after far-right figures in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition pushed for a harsher response to the Gaza rockets.

Egypt mediated Saturday's ceasefire, and a statement from Netanyahu's office "thanked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and expressed the appreciation of the State of Israel for Egypt's intensive efforts to secure a ceasefire." The statement added that Israel would refrain from further airstrikes as long as rocket attacks from Gaza ceased.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised "Operation Shield and Arrow" on the first full day of the ceasefire.

"The execution was perfect. With a continuous initiative, we thwarted the entire top of the organization and damaged combat equipment that endangered Israel's security," the premier remarked at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

"We destroyed 17 jihadist headquarters, eliminated dozens of terrorists, hit rocket and missile depots, thwarted anti-tank squads and more. I would like to thank the members of the security establishment and the citizens of Israel, and especially the residents of the ['Gaza Envelope'], for the firm stand that allowed us to succeed in the operation. We changed the equation," Netanyahu said.

The Israel Defense Forces began to ease restrictions on "Gaza Envelope" communities on Sunday following the truce that went into effect at 10 p.m. on Saturday, although terrorists continued to fire rockets at Israel and the IDF pounded terrorist targets in the Strip in response for a couple of hours after the ceasefire was supposed to start.

Roadblocks were removed from Israeli communities close to Gaza on Sunday and the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings to the Strip reopened among other measures that marked the beginning of a return to normal life as the tenuous ceasefire took hold.

Netanyahu also had a warning for Israel's enemies.

"Today, the enemies of Israel and far beyond Gaza know that even if they try to hide, we can and we are willing to reach them at any time. This recognition grew significantly stronger in Operation Shield and Arrow. We changed the equation," he said.

The Jewish News Service contributed to this article.