Islamic Jihad sets preconditions for accepting Egypt-brokered truce with Israel
The Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad sets preconditions for accepting an Egypt-mediated truce with Israel, warning if the terms were not met it was prepared to keep up cross-border retaliatory rocket attacks indefinitely despite a mounting Gaza death toll.
The Islamic Jihad on Wednesday offered its own terms for the Egyptian-mediated Gaza ceasefire with the Israeli regime, whose airstrikes killed 20 more Palestinians on the second day of renewed escalation.
The Islamic Jihad’s leader Zeyad al-Nakhala laid out the group’s conditions including Israel ending targeted killings and lethal response to Gaza border protests, as well as enacting measures to ease its blockade on the Palestinian enclave.
In an interview with al-Mayadeen TV, Nakhala warned that if a truce is not agreed, the group could continue its cross-border attacks on Israel indefinitely. Nakhala said he is waiting to hear Israel's response via Cairo within hours.
Should a truce not be agreed, he said, "the (Islamic Jihad armed wing) Jerusalem Brigades is able to manage the battle, and for a long time".
The Islamic Jihad says it has fired 360 rockets at the occupied territories and paralyzed cities like Tel Aviv as of Tuesday in retaliation for the regime’s targeted assassination of the resistance group’s senior commanders and its deadly air raids on Gaza enclave.
The comments came after Israeli warplanes pounded areas in the Gaza City, Rafah and Khan Yunis, increasing the Palestinian death toll since Tuesday to 32 people.
Israeli armored vehicles have now been positioned near the besieged enclave.
The escalation follows Israel’s assassination of Baha Abu al-Ata, a top Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza.
Baha Abu al-Ata, 42, the commander of Al-Quds Brigades — the Palestinian resistance movement of Islamic Jihad’s military wing — and his wife were martyred during an Israeli aerial assault against their home in Gaza City in the blockaded Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
The Israeli army confirmed the airstrike afterwards, saying it had taken place against Gaza’s Shejaiya area. The operation, it added, had been recommended by the Chief of Staff and the Shin Bet domestic security service, and approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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