WarSclerotic

A tense quiet prevailed in the South on Thursday morning as an informal ceasefire brokered by Egypt appeared to be holding after two days of intense violence which saw some eighty rockets and mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip into the western Negev.

Late Wednesday night, a Palestinian official said Egypt was mediating a truce which he said went into effect at midnight. No rocket fire or Israeli Air Force strikes on Gaza were reported overnight.

“The contacts Cairo made resulted in a verbal promise by Hamas to calm the situation down, and Israel said it was monitoring calm on the ground and would refrain from attacks unless it was subject to rocket fire from Gaza,” said the official, who is close to the talks.

Israeli officials had no immediate comment. Previous rounds of cross-border attacks have usually fizzled out in days, with both Israel and Hamas seemingly aware of the risks of ramping up the low-intensity conflict.

Schools in the southern communities surrounding Gaza were scheduled to be open as usual on Thursday.

Earlier, two IAF strikes on rocket crews in the Strip left a total of three Hamas men dead, Palestinian sources said.

IDF tanks also directed fire at terrorist targets in southern Gaza following a rocket attack.

Two Thai workers were severely wounded and a third was lightly wounded by a rocket strike on a chicken coop in an agricultural area of the Eshkol region on Wednesday morning, and three Israelis were hospitalized for shock.

Southern District Police said that 32 Gazan projectiles hit the Lachish region and 28 the western Negev since the early hours of the morning on Wednesday.

One rocket that struck a kibbutz in the Eshkol region blew away the wall of a house, leaving a large crater in the ground and coming within meters of killing a woman who managed to make it to shelter in time.

Hamas’s armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, said it was behind the rocket fire, and released a video on its website showing a multiple- rocket launcher firing several projectiles within seconds.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak toured the border with the Strip and visited the IDF’s Gaza Division on Wednesday, before holding a security evaluation meeting to determine Israel’s next steps, warning that the army may have to send ground troops into Gaza.

“We’ll act in any way necessary to restore calm,” he vowed.

Noting that “15 terrorists have been killed in recent weeks,” Barak said Israel was involved in a “long conflict” with Gaza terrorist factions.

“The situation is better now since there is the Iron Dome,” Barak added, referring to the anti-rocket shield in place over most southern cities.

Earlier on Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz traveled to the South together with OC Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi and OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Tal Russo.

On Wednesday, the Hamas government announced that it would complain to the UN against Israel’s “new aggression” against the Gaza Strip.

The announcement followed the Hamas government’s weekly cabinet meeting in Gaza City.

It also followed reports that Hamas and other terrorist groups have formed a joint operations room to coordinate their attacks on Israel.

“We condemn the Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip, which has escalated in the last hours, and warn against the repercussions,” a spokesman for the Hamas government said. “We declare that we will file a complaint with the UN to explain the nature of the Zionist aggression against our people and call for ending it immediately.”