The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged Israel and the Islamist organizations in the Gaza Strip to exercise restraint. “We were clear in the condemnation of the rocket attack. But now we believe it’s absolutely necessary to avoid any scaling up and to have restraint. And our appeal is for restraint in the present moment, for the people not to suffer even more both in Israel and in Gaza and in Palestine in general,” the U.N. Secretary General said.
Tension escalated on Monday morning, when Islamist Palestinians launched a rocket from Gaza that struck a residential structure north of Tel Aviv, wounding seven civilians. The heinous attack was followed by a series of Israeli retaliatory airstrikes and close to one hundred rockets and mortars that were fired from the Hamas-controlled enclave toward Israel’s southern communities. Despite calls for a stronger Israeli response to the Palestinian aggression, a reported truce is appearing to hold. An Egyptian intelligence delegation that entered the enclave yesterday, held a meeting with Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials, during which it presented Israel’s terms for ending the latest hostilities.
Gazan sources told TV7 that Israel proposed, among others, increasing the number of trucks allowed to enter the Hamas-controlled Strip, expanding the Gaza fishing zone to 12 miles and the immediate improvement of the enclave’s electricity supply. The Israeli offer would come in exchange for the ending of the nighttime confrontations along the border and guarantees by Hamas that mass demonstration that are planned for Saturday will remain nonviolent. Furthermore, Israel demands that the Islamist organizations would immediately halt the use of incendiary balloons. While Israel is awaiting a reply to its terms for a cease-fire, the Islamist Hamas organization did not immediately respond to TV7’s request for comment. It is important to note that the Israeli military continues to be on high alert along the border with the Gaza Strip, where large numbers of troops and armored vehicles have been deployed for a possible escalation.