- The Media Line - https://themedialine.org -

After Fierce Military Exchange, Israel, Gaza-based Factions Forge Truce (AUDIO INTERVIEW)

After two days of intensifying violence, Israel reportedly agreed to a cease-fire with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.

Over the course of 48 hours, Gaza-based terrorists fired some 700 rockets at Israeli population centers, killing four civilians and wounding dozens more. For its part, the Israel Defense Forces struck over 300 Hamas and Islamic Jihad assets. The Hamas-run Health Ministry said the air strikes killed at least 27 Palestinians between Saturday and Sunday and wounded hundreds more.

For the first time in years, the Israeli security cabinet authorized the military to target specific individuals, prompting the assassination of a Hamas operative who acted as the main conduit for funneling Iranian funds to the enclave.

International mediators did not disclose the details of the reported cease-fire, although precedents suggest that Hamas and Islamic Jihad agreed to end their rocket fire in exchange for the easing by Israel of restrictions on goods and humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

The Media Line spoke about the tentative calm and what to expect moving forward with Brig.-Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, the former director general of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs and currently the head of the Project on Regional Middle East Developments at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

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