‘Egypt is working to restore calm between Gaza, Israel’
Egypt is working to restore calm in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel after violence escalated following an IDF hit on a prominent Gazan terrorist, Ma’an News Agency reported Thursday.
Egyptian ambassador to the Palestinian Territories Yasser Othman told Ma’an that “Egypt is trying to stop Israeli violations and attacks and reinstate a ceasefire, which Israel annulled today when it assassinated Essam and Sobhi Batash.”
Othman said Egypt was “completely opposed to Israeli violations and operations in the Gaza Strip,” according to Ma’an.
He also said that Cairo was in contact with all the relevant parties in order to prevent a deterioration in the situation in Gaza, and to protect the Palestinian people’s rights.
Earlier in the evening, five rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel. No casualties or damage were caused in the attacks in which projectiles landed mostly in open fields, and one in the city of Netivot.
Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for one of the rockets after Sobhi Batash - a senior commander in their group - was killed by the IDF also on Thursday.
A Hamas spokesperson said Thursday Israel was to blame for an escalation of violence between the Gaza Strip and the Jewish state, calling on Egypt and the United Nations to pressure Jerusalem to discontinue attacks in Gaza.
Earlier Thursday, the IDF thwarted an attack from the Sinai Peninsula after the Air Force bombed targets in the northern Gaza Strip, killing a number of senior terrorists involved in plotting attacks against Israel.
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum called the attack a crime.
“We hold the government of the Zionist occupation (Israel) fully responsible for this crime and for the new escalation,” Barhoum said.
Barhoum called on Egypt and the United Nations to intervene immediately in order to put pressure on Israel to “stop attacks,” according to pan-Arab news website Vision News