Truce Goes into Effect between Israel, Gaza Strip

A cease-fire brokered by Egypt and the United Nations took effect overnight between Israel and the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad, which spent two days trading rocket fire and mostly aerial retaliatory strikes after a border clash on Sunday morning. According to an Israeli military spokesperson, some 80 rockets were launched toward Israel, with almost all either being intercepted by a missile-based air defense system or falling in unpopulated areas. One, however, landed in an unoccupied playground, while several others caused material damage. It is believed that three Islamic Jihad personnel were killed, two of them in Syria, where Israel admitted to striking a facility belonging to the group. The Sunday morning border incident that started it all involved the killing of an Islamic Jihad member who, according to the Israelis, had just planted an explosive device against the border fence. What appears to have ignited the rocket fire, however, was video footage of the dead man dangling from the bucket of a military payloader the Israelis sent in to recover the body under a new, hardline policy. The policy appears aimed at forcing groups in the Gaza Strip to return two Israeli citizens believed being held in the Palestinian enclave, as well as the bodies of two soldiers killed there in 2014 fighting.