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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel reopens Gaza border crossings despite overnight rocket fire |
| 2019-04-01 |
| [IsraelTimes] The two crossings between the Gazoo Strip and Israel reopened Sunday morning despite rocket fire from the Paleostinian territory overnight. The Erez pedestrian crossing and the Kerem Shalom commercial terminal were both shuttered last Monday after a rocket fired from Gazoo toward the central Israeli village of Mishmeret destroyed a home and left seven people maimed. A fishing ban that has been in place since then was also lifted on Sunday morning. Israel committed to reopening the crossing after Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw, reined in a massive border protest on Saturday, under an informal ceasefire deal brokered by Egyptian mediators after a violent week in the coastal enclave. The new commitment to calm was challenged early Sunday, when five rockets were fired from Gazoo at Israel, officials said, triggering sirens in the Eshkol region starting at about 12:40 a.m. There were no reports of injuries or damage from the rocket fire, the Eshkol Regional Council said in a statement. Israel Defense Forces planes struck at Hamas posts on the border in response, though Israeli officials were quoted in Hebrew media reports as saying the rockets were likely launched by the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... organization. The reopening of the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings Sunday morning suggests Israeli and Hamas officials are committed to the calm, and means goods will flow once more to Gazoo from Israel. Over 40,000 Paleostinians took part in the rallies at the Gazoo border Saturday afternoon, with some rioters throwing grenades and explosives toward the security fence as well as lobbing rocks at troops and burning tires. The enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry said three 17-year-old Paleostinians were killed during the protests, while at least 300 were maimed. Another Paleostinian was shot and killed in the early morning before the main demonstration began, reportedly as he approached the border fence during overnight protests. IDF front man Ronen Manelis said Israeli forces had observed hundreds of Hamas members wearing orange vests spread out between the crowd and the fence, preventing the masses from rushing toward the border. Speaking to the Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV channel Saturday night, Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri said "there is a good chance of reaching understandings in the coming few days." However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... Arouri clarified that any long-term truce reached with Israel would not mean a cessation of their "resistance" efforts. "As far as we are concerned, there is no political or national commitment. We...will continue to [participate] in all national activities and [undertake] all forms of resistance against the occupation in every place on the Paleostinian land," the Hamas official said. |
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