Sources: Egypt-mediated truce revolved around Israeli commitment to stop assassinations

A truce agreement mediated by Egypt brought a stop to 10 days of fire between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Saturday night.

During the flare-up in fighting that followed the death of imprisoned Palestinian activist Khader Adnan, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 Palestinians, while rockets from the Gaza Strip killed two civilians in Israeli-occupied territory.

Negotiations on a truce agreement, said two sources close to mediation efforts conducted by Cairo, were rendered complex due to Israel conducting multiple targeted assassinations, killing several senior members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organization, despite officials in Tel Aviv having previously made pledges to stop the use of targeted assassinations.

At least six members of the Gaza-based organization were killed by the Israeli army in under a week, many of them members of the Islamic Jihad’s senior military council. A seventh official and his aide were also reportedly killed, though the group has yet to officially confirm the additional deaths.

Ten Palestinian civilians were also killed by Israeli airstrikes that were conducted in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Two civilians were killed in Israel by returning fire from the strip, where Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of Islamic Jihad, said that "the Palestinian resistance launched a concentrated missile strike in two phases towards occupied Jerusalem and Tel Aviv."

Israel’s prime minister and its national security advisor both thanked Cairo for its efforts to mediate the truce agreement, which came into effect on Saturday night.

But the conflict could be sparked again, said the first source. Israel’s current government — its most right-wing government so far — is subject to the hardline positions of its national security and finance ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must work hard to keep close. The right-wing Israeli government wanted to start and end the war without any long-term commitments, said the two sources speaking to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, and there are limits to the pressure that Cairo is able to exert on the Palestinian factions.

Cairo has been working since May 10 toward reaching a ceasefire between the Israeli occupation forces and factions in the Gaza Strip. The talks, they said, were held with Israeli and Palestinian Islamic Jihad representatives in the Egyptian capital, in Gaza with representatives of Hamas and other political groups based in the besieged strip, and finally, in Israel, with political and security officials.

To establish consensus on a ceasefire, they said, Israel needed to clearly pledge in written form to stop pursuing assassinations and hand over the bodies of any assassinated Palestinian figures. Palestinian factions, meanwhile, were obliged to publicly accept a truce — not just a ceasefire — and to accept Egyptian supervision to neutralize rocket launch capabilities from Gaza.

Egypt had to use “clear” language with Israel about the risks of “playing with fire,” said the first source, who was very close to the mediation efforts, given that Israel moved to expand its targeted assassinations. Egypt also requested that the United States and Europe pressure Israel to respond to mediation efforts, the two sources said.

Cairo “intensively moved at high levels” to avoid an escalation, said the first source, especially given the potential for the exchange of fire to take on regional dimensions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressed support for the Palestinian resistance on Friday, announcing that he had made contact with Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas' political bureau in Gaza. Hamas, the main faction operating armed resistance from the Gaza Strip, did not join the exchange of fire that broke out in May.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also said on Friday that Hezbollah is communicating with groups in Gaza, saying, "We are monitoring the situation and its developments and providing assistance, and at any time we feel responsible to take any steps, we will not hesitate to do so."

Groups in Gaza launched attacks on Israel following the May 2 death of Khader Adnan, a Palestinian activist jailed in Israel who starved to death following 87 days of hunger strike.

Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent representative to the United Nations, called on Tuesday for serious and rapid measures to be taken to protect the Palestinian people and ensure their security, and to end the illegal Israeli colonial occupation and the apartheid regime that have been causing so much human suffering for decades and prevented the achievement of just and lasting peace and security in the region.