Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two major terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, issued a joint statement on Thursday saying they plan to halt their arson attacks on Israel, as well as the violent demonstrations on the border.
Hamas launched its border riot campaign on March 30, unleashing weekly waves of violence that have seen thousands of Palestinian amass near the security fence every Friday, burn tires, hurl rocks, grenades and explosives at Israeli soldiers and try to breach the border.
The Palestinian say over 160 protesters have been killed and 17,200 have been wounded in seven months of weekly protests.
In late April, Gaza's terrorist groups launched an arson terrorism campaign against the Gaza-vicinity communities. Hundreds of incendiary kites and balloons have since been sent over the border, decimating nearly 10,000 acres of Israeli forest and farmlands.
Arson terrorism has caused millions of dollars in damage to the area and environmental experts say it will take at least 15 years to rehabilitate the vegetation and wildlife that have been destroyed by the fires.
Thursday's announcement is believed to be Hamas and Islamic Jihad's way of allowing Egyptian intelligence officials, who have been trying to broker a long-term truce between Israel and the Gaza groups, to proceed to the next stage in the indirect talks, which is likely to include a deal that would improve the dire economic and humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The statement was reportedly released after a meeting between Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his Islamic Jihad counterpart Ziad Nakhala, and also underscored the "depth of the organizations' commitment to the resistance against the Zionist occupation."
They called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to immediately lift the economic sanctions Ramallah has imposed on Gaza as part of Abbas' efforts to wrest control of the coastal enclave from Hamas, saying the PA must "strive to bolster, not weaken, Palestinian unity."
Such unity is imperative if the Palestinians are to successfully battle U.S. President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" for the Middle East, the statement said.
Turkish news agency Anadolu quoted unnamed Palestinian officials as saying that Egypt has been able to make "significant progress" in the talks and that as a show of good faith, Hamas has called on Palestinian protesters to avoid violence during Friday's demonstration.
Declaration aside, four fires were sparked Thursday by incendiary balloons sent over the Gaza border.
One blaze, fueled by high winds, reduced over one-third of the Gevaram nature reserve, 4 miles from the Israel-Gaza border, into ash.
Also, for the first time since the Palestinian arson terrorism campaign began, a car was hit by an incendiary balloon.
The vehicle, which belonged to Rafi Babian, the security coordinator for the Sdot Negev Regional Council, was parked at Kibbutz Alumim, 2.4 miles from Gaza, at the time. It was engulfed in flames and exploded as a result.
Emergency respondents said it was "by pure miracle" that no one was harmed in the incident.
"There's smoke all around us and we're at the point where this is more than a health issue. This is an actual threat to our lives," said Alumim resident Ze'ev Bigel.
"This undermines Israeli sovereignty, and we can't see it's a surprise. The [government's] attitude toward incendiary balloons, that they are now part of the [daily] routine, is outrageous."
