Israel and Egypt penned a deal on steps to stem arms smuggling into Gaza ahead of the Jewish state’s ceasefire to its war, a senior Israeli official said yesterday.
“Israel and Egypt have reached written understandings on security arrangements to prevent arms smuggling along the Gaza-Egypt border and deeper inside the Sinai Peninsula,” the senior government official said.
The agreement was hammered out following intensive contacts between top Israeli Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad and Egyptian Minister without Portfolio and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who met twice in Cairo during the Gaza operation, he said.
The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Egypt had agreed on “specific measures” to fight arms smuggling, but he declined to elaborate.
Israel had said that it stopped its deadly 22-day offensive on Hamas on Sunday after it secured guarantees on weapon smuggling from Egypt and the US.
But while Israel and Washington publicly signed an agreement on preventing the arms smuggling, Israeli and Egyptian officials have so far declined to say whether the two states had inked any deal.
The tenuous ceasefire held yesterday in Gaza, where Palestinians dug out from the rubble and Hamas put on a show of defiance, vowing to fight on after the Jewish state’s deadliest war on the strip.
No air strikes, rockets or fighting were reported by either side for the first time since Israel’s massive assault was launched on Dec. 27.
The guns had fallen silent around Gaza after Israel announced its unilateral ceasefire from Sunday and Hamas and other militant groups called a week-long truce of their own.
On the ground, the lull saw early efforts at a return to some sort of daily life amid the desolation, reporters said.
Some stores raised their metal shutters and banks opened doors. Hamas police reappeared on the streets and directed traffic at intersections.
Many people were scavenging through rubble to salvage what they could — clothes, a television, books, tins of food.
Najette Manah, three small children in tow, clutched a box of rice that she found amid the debris of what was her home.
“We don’t have homes anymore. I don’t have anything anymore,” she said.
However, Hamas’ armed wing spat defiance at a televised media conference, saying it would rearm and demanding the Jewish state withdraw its forces from the Palestinian enclave by Sunday or face more rocket attacks.
Abu Obeida, masked spokesman for the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, echoed his leader’s proclamation that the 22-day operation was a “divine victory” for Hamas.
The movement lost only 48 fighters, the spokesman said, after Israel reported killing more than 500 Hamas members during Operation Cast Lead. He also claimed Israel lost “at least 80 soldiers” in the fighting.
Israeli listed 10 soldiers killed.
Gaza medics said more than 1,300 Palestinians have died.
Abu Obeida underlined that Hamas’ own ceasefire would last only a week unless Israel fully withdrew troops from Gaza.
“We have given the Zionist enemy one week to pull out of the Gaza Strip, failing which we will pursue the resistance,” he said.
“Our arsenal of rockets has not been affected and we continued to fire them during the war without interruption. We are still able to launch them and, thanks be to God, our rockets will strike other targets,” in Israel.
Israel’s efforts to prevent Hamas from re-arming, would also fail, Abu Obeida said.
“Let them do what they want. Bringing in weapons for the resistance and making them is our mission and we know full well how to acquire weapons. What we lost during this war in terms of military capability is small and we managed to compensate for most of it even before the war ended,” he said.
Amid the lull, Israel agreed to let nearly 200 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid into Gaza and to supply 400,000 liters of fuel to the territory, an official said.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack. Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they