A Palestinian was killed and 5 others were injured as a result of the Israeli shelling on the Gaza Strip at dawn on Wednesday, while the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian factions and the Israeli occupation entered into force after an escalation following the martyrdom of Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan in the occupation prisons following a long hunger strike.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said in a brief statement on Wednesday, "Since yesterday evening, Hashel Mubarak (58 years old) from the northern Gaza Strip was killed, and 5 other citizens were injured (without specifying the nature of the injury)."
For his part, Al Jazeera correspondent reported that a cautious calm prevails in the Gaza Strip after the truce took effect.
About an hour after the agreement went into effect, an Al Jazeera correspondent reported that two rockets had been fired from the Gaza Strip, while the Israeli military said sirens sounded in the areas of the envelope.
Terms of the truce
Earlier, a source in the Palestinian resistance told Al Jazeera that the agreement will be simultaneous and conditional on the commitment of both parties, explaining that it was the result of the entry of several parties on the mediation line to stop the Israeli escalation against the Strip.
Before announcing the truce, Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said that he was in contact with Egypt and Qatar to stop the aggression on Gaza, and held Haniyeh responsible for what could result from the continued aggression on the Strip.
Haniyeh added that all mediators were informed of the need to hand over the body of the martyr Khader Adnan to his family.
Following the truce, a Hamas spokesman praised the performance of the joint operations room of the resistance factions in the battle to respond to the martyrdom of leader Khader Adnan after his 87-day hunger strike, saying that the room provided an honorable national field unit in this round against the occupation.
A spokesman for Islamic Jihad also said that a round of confrontation with the occupation has ended, but that the resistance march continues and will not stop, adding that the resistance provided a model for unity of position in response to the martyrdom of prisoner Khader Adnan.
Raids and rocket barrages
Before the truce was announced, Israeli aircraft launched a series of raids early today and Tuesday evening on resistance positions in Gaza, and Palestinian factions responded by firing more rockets at settlements bordering the Strip and the city of Ashkelon.
Al Jazeera correspondent said that Israeli raids targeted several sites of the Palestinian resistance in different areas of the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera obtained preliminary photographs of the effects of the Israeli bombardment on one of the positions of the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip.
The effects of the Israeli shelling on the one that targeted different areas of the #غزة Strip at dawn on Wednesday #الجزيرة #ألبوم pic.twitter.com/jNNOJD37P2
— Al Jazeera Palestine (@AJA_Palestine) May 3, 2023
Earlier in the day, the Israeli military reported an intensive attack on positions of Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip in response to the rocket fire.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it bombed a compound in the Gaza Strip used by Hamas for a training camp, adding that the attack was aimed at damaging Hamas's ability to strengthen and arm itself.
The Israeli army also said that Hamas bears responsibility for what is happening in the Gaza Strip and will pay the price for what it described as security violations against Israel.
Video| Israeli raids on a resistance site west of Khan Yunis pic.twitter.com/Q8exxZp9lS
— Shehab News Agency (@ShehabAgency) May 2, 2023
Palestinian resistance factions said they fired rockets towards the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, before Israel's Channel 13 quoted the mayor of Ashkelon as saying that he had ordered the opening of bomb shelters after rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip.
The Hebrew newspaper Maariv reported that Palestinian factions had fired more than 70 rockets from the Strip towards settlements around Gaza since Tuesday morning.
Israel's Channel 12 reported that the range of Palestinian rocket fire is widening, as for the first time during the current confrontation, the Merchavim area is bombarded with a range of up to 23 kilometers, according to the channel.
The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, deploys #فيديو for confronting and targeting Israeli warplanes with surface-to-air missiles in the skies over the #غزة Strip at dawn on Wednesday#الجزيرة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/cGJEEJJ2VW
— Al Jazeera Palestine (@AJA_Palestine) May 3, 2023
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, said its air defenses had repelled the raiding aircraft on the Gaza Strip with surface-to-air missiles.
The Al-Quds Brigades (the military wing of Islamic Jihad) also announced that it had repelled Israeli aircraft with surface-to-air missiles.