The flare-up was the worst fighting between Israel and Gaza militant groups since Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers fought an 11-day war last year, adding to the destruction and misery that have plagued blockaded Gaza for years.
A Palestinian woman cleans her damaged house following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza strip, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Israel has killed two senior Islamic Jihad militants in three days of air strikes in the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian militants have launched nearly 600 rockets at Israel. Palestinian officials say at least 31 people in Gaza have died. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Since Friday, Israeli aircraft had pummeled targets in Gaza while the Iran-backed Palestinian Jihad militant group fired hundreds of rockets at Israel.
Over three days of fighting, 43 Palestinians were killed, including 15 children and four women, and 311 were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Israel said some of the dead were killed by misfired rockets.
Palestinians search through the rubble of a building in which Khaled Mansour, a top Islamic Jihad militant was killed following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza strip, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. An Israeli airstrike killed a senior commander in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, authorities said Sunday, its second leader to be slain amid an escalating cross-border conflict. (AP Photo/Yousef Masoud)
Israel on Monday said it was partially reopening crossings into Gaza for humanitarian needs and would fully open them if calm was maintained.
Life for hundreds of thousands of Israelis was disrupted during the violence. Security precautions imposed in recent days on residents of southern Israel were being gradually lifted Monday, the military said.
Rockets are launched from Gaza towards Israel, over Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Israel said Sunday it killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in a crowded Gaza refugee camp, the second such targeted attack since launching its high-stakes military offensive against the militant group just before the weekend. The Iran-backed militant group has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel in response, raising the risk of the cross-border fighting turning into a full-fledged war. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
The violence had threatened to spiral into another all-out war but ended up being contained because Gaza’s ruling Hamas group stayed on the sidelines, possibly because it fears Israeli reprisals and undoing economic understandings with Israel, including Israeli work permits for thousands of Gaza residents, that bolster its control over the coastal strip.
Relatives of Ismail Dweik, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, mourn before his funeral, outside a hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. An Israeli airstrike in Rafah killed a senior commander in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, authorities said Sunday, its second leader to be slain amid an escalating cross-border conflict. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since the group overran the territory in 2007.
Israel launched its operation with a strike Friday on a leader of the Islamic Jihad, saying there were “concrete threats” of an anti-tank missile attack against Israelis in response to the arrest last week of another senior Islamic Jihad member in the West Bank. That arrest came after months of Israeli raids in the West Bank to round up suspects following a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israel.
Israelis rest in a bomb shelter following rocket attacks fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Israel has killed two senior Islamic Jihad militants in three days of air strikes in the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian militants have launched nearly 600 rockets at Israel. Palestinian officials say at least 31 people in Gaza have died. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
It killed another Islamic Jihad leader in a strike on Saturday.
Israel said some of the deaths during this round were caused by errant rocket fire, including one incident in the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza in which six Palestinians were killed Saturday. On Sunday, a projectile hit a home in the same area of Jebaliya, killing two men. Palestinians held Israel responsible, while Israel said it was investigating whether the area was struck by an errant rocket.
Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes on a residential building in Gaza, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
In the occupied West Bank on Monday, Israeli troops demolished the homes of two Palestinians suspected of carrying out a deadly attack against Israelis in the city of Elad in May. The soldiers faced a violent protest during the operation, the military said.
A youth reacts while other residents inspect a wounded horse near a damaged car that was hit in an Israeli airstrike that killed people in the car and the horse cart, at the main road in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
The outburst of violence in Gaza was a key test for Israel’s caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who lacks experience leading military operations. Still, he unleashed the offensive less than three months before a general election in which he is campaigning to keep the job.
CAPTION CORRECTION – CORRECTS TO SIX PALESTINIANS INCLUDING CHILDREN NOT SIX CHILDREN – Mourners pray over the bodies of six Palestinians including children killed in an explosion in Jebaliya refugee camp, at the hospital morgue in Jebaliya, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. On Saturday, a projectile hit in Jebaliya, killing the six. Palestinians held Israel responsible, while Israel said it was investigating whether the area was hit by an errant rocket. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
President Joe Biden said he welcomed the cease-fire between Israel and Gaza-based militants.
Mourners pray next to the bodies of Khaled Mansour a senior commander in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad and other Palestinians who were killed in Israeli airstrikes, during their funeral in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Israel has killed two senior Islamic Jihad militants in three days of air strikes in the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian militants have launched nearly 600 rockets at Israel. Palestinian officials say at least 31 people in Gaza have died. (AP Photo/Yousef Masoud)
The U.N. Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting Monday on the violence. China, which holds the council presidency this month, scheduled the session in response to a request from the United Arab Emirates, which represents Arab nations on the council, as well as China, France, Ireland and Norway.
The body of Palestinian Muhammad Hassouna, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike is prepared for his funeral at a hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. An Israeli airstrike in Rafah killed a senior commander in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, authorities said Sunday, its second leader to be slain amid an escalating cross-border conflict. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
“We underscore our commitment to do all we can towards ending the ongoing escalation, ensuring the safety and security of the civilian population, and following-up on the Palestinian prisoners file,” said U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, in a statement.
Members of Palestinian Civil Defense evacuate a wounded man following an explosion in Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. On Sunday, a projectile hit a home in Jebaliya, killing two men. Palestinians held Israel responsible, while Israel said it was investigating whether the area was hit by an errant rocket. (AP Photo/Ahmad Hasaballah)
The Israeli army said militants in Gaza fired about 580 rockets toward Israel. The army said its air defenses had intercepted many of them, with two of those shot down being fired toward Jerusalem. Islamic Jihad has fewer fighters and supporters than Hamas.
A woman takes a photo of a car that was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, Israel, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Islamic Jihad has fewer fighters and supporters than Hamas, and little is known about its arsenal. Both groups call for Israel’s destruction, but have different priorities, with Hamas constrained by the demands of governing.
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system fires to intercept rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel just before a cease-fire between Palestinians and Israel takes effect, in Ashkelon southern Israel, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. A cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants has taken effect in a bid to end nearly three days of violence that has killed dozens of Palestinians. Egyptian officials had worked to bring the sides to an agreement after the flare-up of fighting that saw Israeli aircraft pound targets in Gaza and militants fire hundreds of rockets that reached deep into Israel. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
Hamas had a strong incentive to avoid another war. Last year’s Israel-Hamas war, one of four major conflicts, and several smaller battles over the last 15 years, have exacted a staggering toll on the impoverished territory’s 2.3 million Palestinian residents.
An Israeli soldier takes cover as an Iron Dome air defence system launches to intercept a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Israel has killed two senior Islamic Jihad militants in three days of air strikes in the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian militants have launched nearly 600 rockets at Israel. Palestinian officials say at least 31 people in Gaza have died. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Over the past year, Israel and Hamas have reached tacit understandings based on trading calm for work permits and a slight easing of the border blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt when Hamas overran the territory 15 years ago. Israel has issued 12,000 work permits to Gaza laborers, and has held out the prospect of granting another 2,000 permits.
