Israel and the Palestinian group “Islamic Jihad” announced a truce.

Islamic Jihad said the Cairo-brokered ceasefire agreement “includes Egypt’s commitment to work towards the release of two (Palestinian) prisoners (Bassam) al-Saadi and (Khalil) Awawda” from Israeli custody.

Bassam al-Saadi is a high-ranking figure of “Islamic Jihad”. After his arrest, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began to escalate in the West Bank. The group then announced that it would not let the arrest of its leader go unanswered.

At the same time, the Times of Israel writes that after the announcement of the truce at 11:30 p.m., rocket sirens continued to sound in Israeli cities, and, according to preliminary data, the shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system over Sderot and Mivtahim.

Prehistory:

On August 5, the IDF announced the start of Operation Dawn, which targets Palestinian radical groups operating in the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, “the purpose of this operation is to eliminate a specific threat to Israeli citizens and civilians living near the Gaza Strip.”

Israel struck dozens of targets throughout the Sector.

Islamic Jihad said the Israeli bombing was a “declaration of war” and fired more than 100 rockets at Israel in response.

The last major clash between Israel and the Palestinians was in May 2021, when at least 250 people died in Gaza and 13 in Israel over 11 days.