Ceasefire Between Israel & Palestine Comes Into Effect After 3 Days of Fighting

The fighting, which began on Friday, has been the worst conflict between the 2 sides since the 11-day way last year.

Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on a building in Gaza's Shijaiyah neighborhood on Sunday, 7 August, ahead of the ceasefire.

(Photo: PTI)

A ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Islamic Jihad took effect on Sunday, 7 August, in a bid to end violence between the two sides, which over the last three days has killed dozens of Palestinians.

The fighting over the last three days has been the worst conflict between Israel and Gaza militant groups since the 11-day war fought between Israel and Hamas in 2021. In fact, Hamas has stayed away from the ongoing conflict altogether.

Israel continued to fire rockets in the minutes leading up to the beginning of the Egypt-brokered ceasefire, with the country saying that it would "respond strongly" if the truce agreement were violated, news agency PTI reported.

Israeli aircraft have been striking targets in Gaza since Friday, while the Palestinian militant group has fired several rockets in response.

Islamic Jihad Leader Killed in Airstrike

The fighting had started after Israel launched a strike on a leader of the Islamic Jihad, and targeted another prominent leader on Saturday.

The second Islamic Jihad commander, named Khaled Mansour, died in the airstrike on an apartment building at a refugee camp in Gaza on Saturday. Six children are also said to have died amid Israeli strikes on Saturday, taking the total number of Palestinians killed in the day to 31, as per BBC.

Israel has claimed that its airstrikes had killed around 15 militants so far, and that Gaza militants had fired close to 580 rockets in retaliation.

Israel also said that it had gone on the offensive against Palestine because of threats of an imminent attack. However, they did not provide any details.

The country's caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, meanwhile, said that the country would continue to strike targets "in a pinpoint and responsible way in order to reduce to a minimum the harm to noncombatants," adding that the operation would continue as long as necessary.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had scheduled an emergency meeting on Monday to deliberate upon the situation.

(With inputs from PTI.)