Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket into southern Israel on Sunday, prompting the Israeli Air Force planes to hit back. The launch on Sunday comes less than 24 hours after a ceasefire was reached between Israel and the Islamic Jihad group in the Gaza Strip. The army said the rocket set off air-raid sirens in southern Israel but landed in an open area. Palestinians said the rocket launch was unintended and blamed it on technical failure.
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A fragile ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip had appeared to be holding on Sunday after a five-day clash that killed 33 Palestinians and two Israelis. The latest round of Gaza fighting was sparked Tuesday when Israeli jets killed three top commanders from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in response to earlier rocket launches from Gaza. Those killings set off a barrage of fire and the conflagration threatened to drag the region into another all-out war until an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire took hold late Saturday.
While the calm appeared to bring a sense of relief to millions of Israelis who had been largely confined to bomb shelters in recent days, the agreement did nothing to address the underlying issues that have fueled numerous rounds of fighting between Israel and Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip over the years. Saturday's deal did not address many of the causes of the repeated fighting, including the Gaza border, the large arsenals of weapons possessed by Hamas and PIJ, as well as the linkage to the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Gaza's main cargo crossing with Israel reopened Sunday after warnings that keeping it closed would force Gaza's power plant to shut down. Israel was gradually lifting restrictions on residents in southern Israel, which had borne the brunt of the rocket fire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the targeted attacks on the terrorists' hideouts would reverberate around the region. "Israel's enemies in Gaza and much farther than Gaza know that even if they try to hide, we are able and prepared to reach them at any time," he told a meeting of his Cabinet. Israel says it does its utmost to avoid harming civilians in its strikes and says terrorists operate from within the territory's densely populated areas to fire rockets indiscriminately at Israeli communities.
Throughout the fighting, Israel's repeated airstrikes targeting PIJ and its command centers and rocket-launching sites showed no signs of stopping the rocket fire, prompting PIJ to declare victory and sending cheering Palestinians out into the streets late Saturday. The Israeli military reported over 1,400 launches throughout the fighting, with some rockets reaching as far as the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas. Israeli jets struck more than 400 targets, according to a preliminary military tally, which also showed about a fifth of the rockets were misfired and landed in Gaza, while most of the rest were either intercepted or landed in open areas.
The more powerful Hamas has praised PIJ's strikes but remained on the sidelines during the latest round of fighting, limiting the scope of the conflict. As the de facto government held responsible for the abysmal conditions in the blockaded Gaza Strip, Hamas has recently tried to keep a lid on its conflict with Israel. PIJ, on the other hand, a more ideological and unruly group wedded to violence, has taken the lead in the past few rounds of fighting with Israel.
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