Hundreds of rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, shortly after new Israeli strikes.bringing the number of Palestinians killed in two days to 22 in the worst wave of violence in months.

Egypt, the traditional mediator in the conflict, is working on a ceasefire to end this escalation, the most serious between Palestinian armed groups in Gaza and Israel since August 2022.

But around 9 pm (6 pm GMT) there were new rocket fires from Gaza. “Palestinian resistance continues to attack Israeli cities,” the al-Qods Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, said in a statement.

These statements are in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who stated in a televised speech, “We are in the middle of the campaign against Islamic Jihad.”

Since the first rocket fire in the early afternoon, warning sirens have sounded in Israeli towns around the Gaza Strip, as well as in the far east of Beersheba and northern Tel Aviv.

Israel bombs Hamas underground compound in Gaza

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres He said he was “very concerned” about the outbreak of violence, according to a spokesperson.

The Arab League, which held an extraordinary meeting on the issue, “strongly condemned” the “widespread Israeli crimes”.

Shelters

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reported “more than 400” rocket fire from Gaza.

“No Israeli civilians were injured,” Netanyahu said, urging people in Gaza’s border areas to remain in shelters as some rockets caused property damage.

Islamic Jihad, an organization considered “terrorist” by Israel, the European Union and the United States, has been the target of Israeli attacks since Tuesday.

The group had promised oneto “respond on the same scale as the crimes against our people and our fighters”, after three of its military leaders were killed in Israeli strikes that killed 15 people in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, including four children.

Attacks in Gaza kill 24, including six children, amid rising violence between Israel and Islamic Jihad

Gaza’s Palestinian Health Ministry reported seven deaths on Wednesday in Israeli attacks, including a 10-year-old girl, whose remains were seen by an AFP journalist at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital.

Four of the dead were fighters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), according to the group.

Mediation

Egypt intervened to try to defuse the situation. “Egypt is trying to make it easier to reach a ceasefire,” an Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity. In Gaza, sources close to Hamas and Islamic Jihad confirmed this initiative, confirmed by an Egyptian source.

The Gaza Strip, a narrow and impoverished Palestinian area, has 2.3 million inhabitants. It has been ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement since 2007 and is under a blockade by Israel. Since 2008, it has been the scene of several wars with Israel.

People in Gaza ‘expect the worst’said resident Monther Abdullah.

“I feel that there is a war coming and there is tension and fear here or there (in Israel),” said the 50-year-old man.

In Gaza mountains of batteries pile up and no one can recycle them

“We Are Prepared”

Around the Palestinian enclave, residents of Israeli towns took refuge in shelters and schools were closed in a 40 km zone around the territory, Israel Public Radio said. Amos Guetta, a 58-year-old Ashkelon resident, said he was “both saddened and happy that something had been done to” stop the rocket fire.

“We are prepared for a possible reinforced operation and intense attacks in Gaza”Netanyahu said this during a meeting with officials in southern Israel. There were already rocket fire between groups from Gaza and Israel last week after the death in an Israeli prison of an Islamic Jihad official on hunger strike.

In August 2022, three days of clashes between Israel and Islamic Jihad resulted in the deaths of 49 Palestinians, including at least 19 children, according to the UN. About 200 rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel, wounding three.

In the West Bank, an area occupied by Israel since 1967, two members of the Islamic Jihad armed wing were killed this Wednesday during an Israeli raid near Jenin (north).

At least 132 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed in violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the beginning of the year, according to an AFP tally from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.