The Gaza-Israel Israeli border fell silent on Saturday under what Palestinians described as an Egyptian-mediated truce that followed massive Israeli airstrikes on terror targets in Gaza, mounted in response to the biggest salvo of Palestinian rockets for months.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the armed groups operating in Gaza, said it fired the rockets in retaliation for Israel's killing of four Palestinians at a border riot on Friday. The Israeli Air Force hit more than 80 targets in response to about 40 Gaza rockets launched into Israel.
The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted 13 rockets, two hit the Gaza side of the border and the remainder fell in open areas in southern Israel, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said.
Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon said that one of the rockets hit an ambulance crossing used to transfer Gazans out of the strip in emergency humanitarian cases.
"To what low have the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip sunk?" Abu Rukun wrote on his Arabic Facebook page.
Commander of the 947th Iron Dome Battalion, Lt. Col. Nir, said that "the air defense systems have been on high alert for several days in preparation for a variety of scenarios. Last night [Friday] we were also on alert and acted to counter many rockets from fired from Gaza. All the threats to populated areas were intercepted successfully."
There were no immediate reports of Palestinian casualties on Saturday as a result of the Israeli strikes, which targeted mostly terrorist training facilities and weapon storage sites.
Gaza's Health Ministry said that the main hospital in the enclave's north was damaged after a nearby Hamas training camp was bombed. Footage showed cables and wires dropping from collapsed ceilings in the wards.
In Gaza City, an airstrike hit an unfinished building, flattening the three-story structure. That building was later identified by Israel as Hamas' would-be security headquarters.
"After talks between the Islamic Jihad's leadership and the brothers in Egypt it was agreed that a comprehensive cease-fire will begin immediately," Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shehab said. "The Islamic Jihad will abide by the cease-fire if the occupation [Israel] does the same."
An IDF spokesperson declined to comment on Shehab's remarks. By nightfall on Saturday violence had abated, with no further reports of Palestinian rocket launches or Israeli air strikes in Gaza.
Egyptian security officials have been talking separately to Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an attempt to restore calm along the volatile border.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the retaliatory airstrikes "despicable aggression, with the occupier trying to avoid … an end to the siege [on Gaza]. This aggression will have serious ramifications in how we confront the occupation. Hamas will not allow the blood of unarmed protesters to be spilled for nothing. Israel is committing crimes against humanity and the Palestinian people because of internal political disputes."
On Friday, four Palestinians were killed during the ongoing Hamas-organized protests at the border, which have been held since March 30.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 213 Gazans have been killed by Israeli forces since the protests started. However, Hamas itself has stated that dozens of the casualties were Hamas operatives rather than innocent civilian protesters.
IDF Spokesman in English Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said there had been no signs of Hamas trying to rein in Islamic Jihad. He also criticized Hamas for escalating the border protests after Israel had tried to defuse tensions by allowing Qatari fuel shipments into Gaza to improve the supply of electricity.
Conricus also said Syria and Iran were involved in the weekend rocket attacks.
"Orders and incentives were given from Damascus with a clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force," Conricus said, referring to the IRGC's black-ops arm.
"Our response is not limited geographically," he warned.
Israel regularly states that Iran is aiding terrorist groups in Gaza, but rarely connects Iran to specific attacks, such as the one on Saturday.
Shehab dismissed the allegation of foreign involvement as "an Israeli attempt to evade its responsibility" for the border deaths.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Saturday held consultations with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, head of Military Intelligence Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi, and other senior security officials.
Defense officials refused to state on Saturday whether the latest round of violence was over, nor did they make any assessments as to whether recent events will lead to a larger-scale military conflict along the southern border.
Meanwhile, despite the success of the Iron Dome system, residents of Gaza-adjacent communities expressed frustration this weekend with the ongoing violence that has been a consistent threat for the past eight months.
Ariel Shagerman of Kibbutz Or Haner said, "We didn't sleep, and we don't mind not sleeping. We just expect the government to explain why we aren't sleeping."
Shagerman said his faith in the government was wavering: "Hamas wants to go to war and we're blowing up empty targets. How long can it go on like this? We want to sleep at night, to work in peace. We have a restaurant on the kibbutz that had over 100 reservations for tonight. Obviously, all of them were canceled," he said.
Sderot resident Leah Orman described her sense of "criminal neglect by the government. Eight months of fires and [arson] kites, and every time the rockets get close and want to kill you and there's no one protecting you. It's awful. We can't see the light at the end of the tunnel."
