WarSclerotic

Sporadic rocket fire from Gaza continues to hit South despite ‘ceasefire’ | JPost | Israel News.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST.COM STAFF

03/13/2014 20:18

3 rockets land in Sha’ar Hanegev and 1 in Ashkelon Coast area despite Islamic Jihad’s claims that Egypt brokered a ceasefire; Israel vows to react if provocations continue as two day rocket total nears 70.

Sporadic rocket fire from the Gaza Strip fell in southern Israel on Thursday evening hours after the Islamic Jihad claimed that Egypt had brokered a ceasefire to end two days of hostilities that has seen nearly 70 rockets fall in the South.

A rocket fell in the Ashkelon Coast Council area around 5 p.m. Wednesday and just before 8 p.m. three rockets fell in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council area.

Israel has denied that an official ceasefire is in effect, and has maintained that it will respond forcefully to rocket fire.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said earlier Thursday that “quiet would be met with quiet” but he added “if provocations continue, we will know how to pound whoever needs to be pounded.”

“We do not seek an escalation but we will not resign ourselves to any provocation from the organizations in Gaza,” Ya’alon said.

The defense minister sent “a message of strength” to the residents of southern Israel who faced a barrage of rocket fire over the past days asking them to continue their routine, saying that the IDF would continue to defend them.

Earlier in the day it appeared that Egyptian efforts to broker a ceasefire may have succeeded with an Islamic Jihad official saying that a truce had been reached.

“Following intensive Egyptian contacts and efforts, the agreement for calm has been restored in accordance with understandings reached in 2012 in Cairo,” Islamic Jihad official Khaled al-Batsh wrote on Facebook, referring to a truce that ended an eight-day Gaza war two years ago.

Batsh said Islamic Jihad, a militant group that began launching rockets into Israel on Wednesday after Israeli soldiers killed three of its fighters a day earlier, would hold its fire as long as Israel did the same.

The news came shortly after the Israel Air Force struck seven terror targets in the southern Gaza Strip in response to two rockets fired earlier in the day.

Two rockets fired on Thursday morning by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza landed in open territory near Ashkelon and Ashdod, following several hours of tense quiet after Wednesday night’s barrage of heavy fire.

Yasser Okbi and Reuters contributed to this report.

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