By Fares Akram and Tia Goldenberg —
The Associated Press
A ceasefire momentarily ended fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, which had been going on for three days, with no sign of any clashes on Sunday night and Monday morning.
The hostilities were the worst between Israel and armed groups in Gaza since Israel and Hamas, the group that rules Gaza, waged an 11-day war last year.
That conflict increased the destruction and misery that have plagued the blockaded Gaza for years.
Since Friday, Israeli warplanes have struck targets in Gaza as the Iranian-backed Palestinian group Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rockets at Israel.
In the three days of fighting, 43 Palestinians were killed, including 15 children and four women, and 311 people were injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israel said some of the deaths were due to rockets that misfired.
Doctors from the Najar hospital treat a girl injured after an Israeli airstrike on the building where her family lived, on Saturday, August 6, 2022, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Hatem Ali / AP
Israel announced on Monday that it would partially reopen the crossings into Gaza for humanitarian deliveries, and would open them fully if calm remained.
The lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis were turned upside down
during the outbreak of violence.
The security measures imposed in recent days on the population of southern Israel were to be gradually lifted on Monday, according to the army.
Both sides bragged about their successes.
Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Sunday, Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhalah said the armed group remained strong despite losing two commanders.
“This is a victory for Islamic Jihad,” he stated.
A senior Israeli diplomat said the offensive had set Islamic Jihad's capability back "decades."
He described the campaign as
"a successful counter-terrorist operation"
because Israel had reached its goal in a short time, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the operation with the media.
The clashes had threatened to escalate into another open war, but were ultimately contained because
Hamas, which rules Gaza, stood aside
, perhaps fearing Israeli retaliation and unraveling economic understandings with Israel such as work permits in Israel held by thousands of Gazans.
Gaza, and which reinforce control over the coastal strip.
Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since the group seized the territory in 2007.
Israel began its operation with an attack on Friday against an Islamic Jihad leader and said there were "concrete threats" of an anti-tank missile attack on Israelis, in response to the arrest last week of another Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank.
That arrest followed months of Israeli raids in the West Bank to detain suspects, following a series of Palestinian attacks on Israel.
Debris from war-torn areas in Gaza sold
Jan. 18, 202202:19
Another airstrike killed another Islamic Jihad commander on Saturday.
Israel said some of the deaths in recent days of violence
were due to uncontrolled rocket fire
, including an incident in the Jebaliya refugee camp where six Palestinians were killed on Saturday.
On Sunday, a shell hit a house in the same area of Jebaliya, killing two men.
The Palestinians blamed Israel, which said it was investigating whether the area had been hit by a stray rocket.
[Zelenskyy Compares Putin's Invasion To The Holocaust, Calls On Israel To Take A Stronger Stance Against Russia]
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops demolished the homes of two Palestinians suspected of carrying out a deadly attack on Israelis in the city of Elad in May.
The soldiers faced a violent protest during the operation, according to the army.
The outbreak of violence was a crucial test for Israel's interim prime minister, Yair Lapid, with no experience leading military operations.
Still, he ordered the crackdown less than three months before a general election in which he hopes to keep the job.