Attempts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian terror groups in Gaza have made no headway, with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry admitting that “efforts continue for now without success.”
A senior Israeli official told the Kan public broadcaster that Cairo was “doing everything it can to stabilize the situation.”
The official added that Egyptian President Abdel al-Fatah al-Sissi and intelligence chief Abbas Kamel were directly involved.
“Quiet will be met with quiet,” said the Israeli source.
JNS has learned that Palestinian Islamic Jihad is demanding that Israel end targeted attacks on its commanders, return the body of a Palestinian prisoner who died during a hunger strike and cancel the annual Jerusalem Day flag parade.
Israel has made no commitments to PIJ, official sources told JNS.
As rockets continued to be fired at southern and central Israel, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the security establishment to prepare “a series of additional operations” against Gaza and stressed that Israelis should brace for longer-range Palestinian rocket fire.
Israeli strikes on PIJ leaders come against the backdrop of a rocket barrage fired by the terror group following the death of Khader Adnan on May 2. The imprisoned Adnan, a senior PIJ figure, died after an 86-day hunger strike. The terror group had threatened throughout Adnan’s hunger strike that it would hold Israel responsible for his death.
Israel retaliated for the terror group’s rockets with air strikes on three senior commanders on May 9. The commander of PIJ’s rocket squads was killed in an Israeli strike on a Khan Yunis safehouse Thursday morning.
The flag march is an annual highlight of Jerusalem Day festivities, which celebrate the anniversary of the Israeli capital’s reunification during the Six-Day War of 1967. Thousands of Israeli youths carrying Israeli flags march through Jerusalem’s Old City.
Palestinians regularly accuse Israel of using the march to “Judaize” the city.
Israel reportedly warned Hamas that it would retaliate powerfully to any rocket fire during Jerusalem Day.
Before Jerusalem Day in 2021, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to change the route so that marchers would not pass through the Old City’s Muslim Quarter, but Hamas fired rockets, sparking an 11-day military operation in Gaza.