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WORLD NEWS Monday 15 May 2023
Israeli cease-fire appears to hold, despite new

rocket launch

By FARES AKRAM and
TIA GOLDENBERG
Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)
— A fragile cease-fire be-
tween Israeli forces and
militants in the Gaza Strip
appeared to be holding
on Sunday after a five-day
clash that killed 33 Pales-
tinians and two people in
Israel.
In an early test for the
truce, Palestinian militants
fired a rocket that landed
in an open area of south-
ern Israel Sunday evening.
Palestinian media said the
launch was caused by a
technical error as militants
were trying to deactivate
the rocket.
Israel responded with tank
fire on what it said were two Smoke and fire rise from an explosion caused by an Israeli airstrike targeting a building in Gaza,
military posts belonging to Saturday, May 13, 2023. The building was owned by an Islamic Jihad official. Associated Press
Gaza's ruling Hamas mili-
tant group. Hamas stayed ing with Israel reopened ritory's densely populated a Palestinian laborer who
out of the recent round of Sunday after warnings that areas to fire rockets indis- was working inside Israel
fighting, but Israel says it keeping it closed would criminately at Israeli com- were killed by rocket fire.
holds the group responsible force Gaza's sole power munities. A Palestinian human rights
for fire coming out of the plant to shut down, deep- Even if some of the strikes group said three people,
territory.The latest round of ening a power crisis. were precise, others de- including two children,
Gaza fighting was sparked Israel was gradually lifting stroyed the homes of unin- were killed in Gaza by er-
Tuesday when Israeli jets restrictions on residents in volved Palestinians. rant rockets.
killed three top command- southern Israel, which had "If they want to target a It was the latest in a long
ers from the Islamic Jihad borne the brunt of the rock- house, let them target it series of battles between
militant group in response et fire. alone. Why destroy the Israel and Palestinian mili-
to earlier rocket launches Israeli officials expressed whole neighborhood? tants in Gaza since the Is-
from Gaza. Those killings satisfaction with the lat- Why?" said Mai Sarson, lamic militant group Hamas
set off a barrage of militant est battle, having killed at whose house in Deir el- seized control of the sea-
fire and the conflagration least six members of Islamic Balah was reduced to ruins side territory in 2007. Israel
threatened to drag the Jihad's top brass in what it in an Israeli strike. and Hamas have fought
region into another all-out says were pinpointed strikes Throughout the fighting, four wars, and there have
war until Egypt mediated based on solid intelligence. Israel's repeated airstrikes been numerous smaller fla-
a cease-fire that took hold But at least 13 of those targeting Islamic Jihad reups as well.
late Saturday. killed in Gaza were civil- and its command cen- Saturday's deal did not ad-
While the calm appeared ians, among them children ters and rocket-launching dress many of the causes
to bring a sense of relief as young as 4 years old, as sites showed no signs of of the repeated fighting,
to Gaza's 2 million people well as women. stopping the rocket fire, including Israel's ongoing
and hundreds of thousands Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- prompting Islamic Jihad to blockade of Gaza, the
of Israelis who had been tanyahu said the targeted declare victory and send- large arsenals of weapons
largely confined to bomb attacks on the militants' ing cheering Palestinians possessed by Hamas and Is-
shelters in recent days, the hideouts would reverber- out into the streets late Sat- lamic Jihad and Israeli poli-
agreement did nothing to ate around the region. urday. cies in the occupied West
address the underlying is- "Israel's enemies in Gaza The Israeli military report- Bank and east Jerusalem.
sues that have fueled nu- and much farther than ed over 1,400 launches The Gaza violence came
merous rounds of fighting Gaza know that even if they throughout the fighting, after more than a year of
between Israel and Pales- try to hide, we are able and with some rockets reaching fighting in the occupied
tinian militant groups in the prepared to reach them at as far as the Tel Aviv and West Bank, where the Is-
Gaza Strip over the years. any time," he told a meet- Jerusalem areas. Israeli jets raeli military has been stag-
In Gaza, residents surveyed ing of his Cabinet. struck more than 400 tar- ing near-nightly arrest raids
the latest damage caused Israel has faced criticism in gets, according to a pre- and Palestinians have car-
to their surroundings, with the past from rights groups liminary military tally, which ried out repeated attacks.
gaping holes left in the over the civilian casual- also showed about a fifth Tensions could once again
apartments serving as what ties in its bombardments in of the rockets were misfired soar this week when nation-
Israel said were hideouts for Gaza. and landed in Gaza, while alist Israelis hold an annual
the six senior Islamic Jihad Israel says it does its utmost most of the rest were either march through a sensitive
members killed during this to avoid harming civilians in intercepted or landed in area of Jerusalem's Old
round. its strikes and says militants open areas. City, which the Palestinians
Gaza's main cargo cross- operate from within the ter- An 80-year-old woman and view as provocative.q