Islamic Jihad announces truce after Gaza rocket fire / Photo: SAID KHATIB - AFP
-
High school students turn out for new protests across France
-
Alex Bodi mizează, alături de CRIF, pe investiții transparente și pe prevenirea riguroasă a spălării banilor
-
Bid by Italy's Intesa bank to take over MPS gets boost
-
Gulf Labs, Part of Thailand’s $27 Billion GULF Group, Goes Live as an Injective Validator
-
Stablecoins Are Quietly Becoming Business Infrastructure, NOWPayments Data Shows
-
EU okay for winter despite 'historically low' gas stocks: operators
-
Oil surges, stocks sink as US reportedly eyes new Iran strikes
-
Rwanda to host F1 Grand Prix: sources close to both sides
-
Woman in botched US execution walking, mentally 'foggy': lawyer
-
EU top diplomat says bloc in favour of UN Lebanon peacekeepers' extension
-
Farhan hopes Pakistan's new combination takes off in Sri Lanka T20Is
-
Antonelli and Russell to run different Mercedes aero packages in Singapore
-
Teenager Andreeva seals China Open semi-final with Bartunkova
-
WTO hikes 2026 trade growth forecast on AI boom
-
Britain's Burnham says open to Germany joining warplane project
-
'I love that challenge': Hamilton prays for rain in Singapore
-
Kovac's tough love has Dortmund dreaming of title charge
-
G.Bissau moves towards postponement of December general election
-
China announces candidate for WHO chief
-
Verstappen out to settle 'unfinished business' at Singapore Grand Prix
-
South Korea test-fires its first homegrown hypersonic weapon: presidency
-
WhiteBIT Launches Bitcoin Lightning Network Support, Powered by Voltage
-
ONAR Advances Nasdaq Listing Preparation Following Advertise Purple Acquisition and Financing
-
Oil surges, stocks sink as US reportedly eyes fresh Iran strikes
-
Thailand opens extradition process for reporter sought by China
-
Anne Carson: modern takes on Greek classics
-
France struggles to wean social housing off gas
-
Canada's Anne Carson wins Nobel literature prize
-
Germany lifts GDP forecast as economy withstands Iran war
-
Ethiopia drones hit Eritrean troops in Tigray
-
Sri Lanka appoints Kusal Mendis as Test captain
-
Russian strike on buses kills 30 in frontline Ukrainian city
-
Norris confident McLaren can shine in Singapore
-
Thailand begins extradition process against Chinese journalist
-
Alex Bodi pushes ahead with expansion: ALIX LASERS showroom planned for Bucharest
-
Quarantine, unease and rumours: Russian city grapples with plague scare
-
Fossil fuels off COP31 agenda as global output keeps rising
-
Taiwan says exports hit record in September on AI demand
-
Haze not 'a threat' to Singapore F1 race: organisers
-
Marc Marquez vows to 'attack' Martin's lead at Indonesian MotoGP
-
COP31 organisers say to seek 'ambitious' action with their text
-
Diplomats, schools in Saudi take safety measures after blasts heard: sources to AFP
-
Bartunkova thrashes Muchova to reach China Open semi-finals
-
In Beijing, EU trade envoy says deficit with China 'unsustainable'
-
Drone hits Yandex data centre, in first such attack on Russia
-
Sri Lanka's de Silva quits as Test captain
-
Oil prices surge and stocks sink on fresh inflation worries
-
Alcaraz feeling 'mentally fresh' ahead of Shanghai return
-
AI startup Manus raises $500m after Meta acquisition blocked by China
-
Israel drastically reduces British diplomatic presence in Jerusalem
Islamic Jihad announces truce after Gaza rocket fire
Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad announced a truce around Gaza Wednesday, after militants traded fire with Israel following the death in Israeli custody of a hunger striker from its ranks.
Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations intervened to broker a return to calm from 4 am (0100 GMT), sources in Islamic Jihad and fellow militant group Hamas told AFP.
Israel did not immediately confirm the agreement.
The Israeli army said the last warning sirens sounded near the Gaza border at around 5:30 am (0230 GMT).
Witnesses in the blockaded Palestinian territory told AFP that several rockets were fired at Israel around this time.
"One round of confrontation has ended, but the march of resistance continues and will not stop," said Tariq Salmi, a spokesperson for Islamic Jihad in a statement.
"Our brave fighters have proven their loyalty and commitment to defending their people," he added.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh demanded that Israel return the hunger striker's body to his family.
"We stress - and as we have informed all the mediators who intervened - the necessity of handing over the body of the martyr Khader Adnan to his patient family," Haniyeh said in a statement.
Adnan, 45, from Jenin in the occupied West Bank, died early Tuesday after an 87-day hunger strike following his arrest by Israel over ties to Islamic Jihad.
A string of high-profile hunger strikes during at least 13 stints in Israeli custody had turned Adnan into a national hero, and revitalised hunger striking as a form of protest among Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli jails.
From Tuesday morning, around 100 rockets were fired by militant groups from Gaza towards Israel, according to Islamic Jihad.
In response, the Israeli army said it carried out a number of air strikes on Gaza early Wednesday, targeting "weapons manufacturing sites, outposts, military complexes and an underground terror tunnel" belonging to Hamas.
"It (Hamas) will face the consequences," the army added.
Israel generally holds Hamas responsible for all rocket fire from Gaza, regardless of which militant group launched it. The Islamist group has controlled the territory since ousting loyalists of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in 2007.
P.Tamimi--SF-PST