Islamic Jihad agrees to truce in return for prisoners held in Israel
An agreement sponsored by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations includes a cease-fire by Islamic Jihad in exchange for Israel releasing two prominent Islamic Jihad leaders in the West Bank as soon as possible.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Islamic Jihad movement in the Gaza Strip announced on the night of Aug. 7 that it had reached a truce agreement with Israel under the auspices of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations, ending a bloody round of fighting with Israel, the most severe one since the May 2021 war led by Hamas against Israel.
Islamic Jihad leader Daoud Shehab told Al-Monitor, “The truce agreement entered into force at 11:30 p.m. [local time on Aug. 7] with Egyptian mediation.”
“If the enemy [Israel] does not abide by what we agreed on through the Egyptian mediator, we will resume fighting. We do not fear anyone,” Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhala said during a press conference held Aug. 7 to discuss the details of the conditional truce agreement.
Nakhala noted that Islamic Jihad's rockets targeted about 58 Israeli locations on the Gaza border, while the Israeli army said that Islamic Jihad fired over 450 rockets from the Gaza Strip over the past two days.
