A general view of Gaza City prior to the start of a ceasefire brokered by Egypt between Israel and the two main Palestinian terror groups in Gaza on May 20, 2021. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP)
The Egypt-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian terror groups in Gaza officially goes into effect.
In the hours since the truce was announced on Thursday night, Israeli towns near Gaza were bombarded with rockets and mortar shells, causing one injury, but no major volleys were fired at large Israeli cities.
A picture taken on May 20, 2021 shows the destroyed interior of a house hit by a rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, on May 20, 2021 (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
It remains unclear if the ceasefire will stick, bringing the 11-day Operation Guardian of the Walls to a close, or if the violence will continue.
Twelve people in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, have been killed by rocket fire during the conflict, and hundreds have been injured.
Some of the victims of the Gaza rocket fire: Top row (L) Omer Tabib (R) Ido Avigal; 2nd row (L) Leah Yom-Tov (R) Soumya Santosh; 3rd row (L) Nadeen Awwad (R) Khalil Awwad; 4th row (R) Nela Gurvitch (L) Ramat Gan after the rocket strike (Oren ZIV / AFP)
On Thursday, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry updated the death toll in the Strip to 232, including 65 minors. It was not immediately clear if the ministry tally included all of those killed or if there were Hamas operatives not included in the count.
According to the IDF, more than 120 of those killed were members of Hamas and over 25 were members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as of Monday night. The IDF says some of the Gaza civilian fatalities were killed by the terror groups’ own rockets falling short and exploding in Gaza.
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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 20, 2021
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