Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire following rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and subsequent retaliations by Israel, The Times of Israel reported Friday.
On Thursday night, two Fajr-5 rockets were fired toward Tel Aviv. Though initial reports indicated that Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket system had intercepted one rocket, the IDF now says that both rockets landed in open areas.
The remains of one of the rockets were found in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon on Friday.
The IDF struck back against 100 Hamas targets in Gaza overnight. Nine rockets were fired from Gaza toward the nearby Israeli communities. Six of those were intercepted.
Daoud Shehab, a spokesman for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the second most powerful terror group in Gaza, said that his group is “committed to the ceasefire understandings,” as long as Israel “halts its aggression.”
Initially, the IDF had blamed PIJ for the firing of the rockets. But overnight, it instead assigned responsibility to Hamas for the attack.
“An IDF assessment found that the rockets were possibly fired toward the coastal city by mistake, and that low-level Hamas forces were responsible for the launches,” the Times reported. “It was not immediately clarified if the IDF believed it was a technical malfunction or human error.”
A Hamas official told the Times that the terror group “has no interest in an escalation” with Israel. The same official denied knowledge of who was responsible for firing the rockets toward Tel Aviv.
The interior ministry of Hamas said that the attack on Tel Aviv was “outside the national consensus” and that it would take action against those responsible.
Hamas also canceled Friday’s weekly riots at the border fence with Israel. The riots, which Hamas calls the Great March of Return, began last year on March 30. The organizers of the so-called March explained the cancellation as being “out of concern for our people and in preparation for” a larger one on the first anniversary.
The ceasefire was reportedly arranged with the assistance of Egyptian mediators.
Last month, the IDF issued a report that found that the violent riots on Gaza’s border with Israel were orchestrated by Hamas to cover for other military activities.
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