In response to an IDF operation that killed two in the West Bank town of Nablus early this morning, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) militants claimed to have fired three rockets from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli town of Sderot. Israeli sources confirm that rockets did hit the town, lightly wounding two. One of those killed in the IDF raid was a key leader in the group's Al-Quds Brigades, while the other was a university student who Haaretz reported as belonging to Hamas.
Technically speaking, the IDF raid is not a violation of the current ceasefire agreement, which took effect last Thursday in Gaza. While Palestinian parties tried to have it extended to the West Bank before the agreement was finalized, Israel refused so that it could continue to undertake security operations in the area (see my previous post on the truce).
Hamas, who controls Gaza, denounced the IDF operation as a crime. However, the group's spokesperson asked that all Palestinian factions exercise self-control and remain committed to national consensus on the ceasefire issue. He went on to add that Hamas is looking into today's incident with the other Palestinian factions, and he called on designated parties to exert pressure on Israel to cease such actions.
For now, it appears that Hamas is trying to reign in other Palestinian factions in order to salvage the much needed truce. Subsequently, PIJ's website has termed the rocket attack as an ‘exceptional response’, and voiced the group's ‘committment’ to the truce (as long as Israel abides by it) and Palestinian consensus. Overall, the circumstances surrounding PIJ's retaliation is evident of the limits of the truce, and the future challenges that both sides will face in the coming days.
