Tense calm appears to hold after ceasefire announced between Israel, Palestine

Tel Aviv [Israel], May 14 : A tense ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza appeared to hold Sunday morning following sporadic rocket assaults from the Gaza Strip late Saturday night and retaliatory Israel Defence Forces (IDF) airstrikes after the 10 pm ceasefire went into effect, reported The Times of Israel.

The five days of intensive warfare saw over 1,200 rockets fired towards Israel as the Israeli military responded by targeting Islamic Jihad militants, command centres, rocket launchers, and capabilities in the Palestinian enclave, read a report published in The Times of Israel.

Late on Saturday, the IDF carried out retaliatory strikes in the Gaza Strip that it claimed were directed at two underground Islamic Jihad rocket launchers as a result of missile alarms that had been heard in southern and central Israel.

The Home Front Command advised people living close to the enclave to spend the night near bomb shelters and declared that restrictions on gatherings and movements for people living within 40 km of Gaza will be lifted at noon on Sunday, as per The Times of Israel.

Following military evaluations, roads close to the border that had been closed due to worries of anti-tank guided missile assaults were reopened at 6 am on Sunday. Additionally, restrictions on people living more than 40 kilometres from Gaza have lifted at the same time that Home Front Command regulations required people living nearby to close their schools, their places of employment, and their outdoor gatherings to no more than 10 people. There was a limit of 100 people for meetings indoors.

Additionally, as long as there is a bomb-safe space that students and staff can get to in time, special education institutions are allowed to function in communities close to Gaza.

The announcement might be a precaution, knowing that Gazan terrorist orgsations have violated cease-fires in the past. In the 2014 Gaza War, just after a truce was meant to have taken effect, IDF officer Hadar Goldin was killed by Hamas and his body was hauled into a tunnel.

The Biden administration has asked Israel to change the route of the march in the last two years so that it passes through the Jaffa Gate in the Old City rather than the Damascus Gate, avoiding the Muslim Quarter, which is predominantly populated by Palestinians.

The hardline government was not likely to reroute the march, a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel.