Israel, Hamas Hostilities: Egypt Moves Against Escalation As Killings Surge

Egypt has been in close contact with Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas to try to prevent further escalation in fighting between both and ensure the protection of Israelis taken hostage by Palestinian militants.

Two Egyptian security sources said on Monday in the wake of violent conflict with surging death toll.

Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula shares a border with the Gaza Strip and with Israel, and Cairo has acted as a mediator between Israel and Palestinian groups in previous conflicts.

The North African country had urged Israel to exercise restraint and Hamas to hold its captives in good condition to keep open the possibility of de-escalation soon, although successive Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip made mediation difficult, said the sources speaking on condition of anonymity.

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Palestinian fighters took dozens of Israeli hostages in an attack launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, including soldiers and civilians, children and the elderly.

A second Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, said it was holding more than 30 of the captives.

Israeli fighter jets, helicopters and artillery have been pounding the Gaza Strip as Israel battled to clear out Palestinian fighters who crossed from Gaza.

Some 7,000 Israeli tourists have returned from Sinai to Israel since the fighting erupted, the Egyptian security sources said.

The Red Crescent has also delivered some medical aids to Gaza from Sinai through the Rafah crossing, they added.

EgyptAir flights between Cairo and Tel Aviv have been suspended indefinitely, while flights from South Sinai’s Sharm el-Shiekh to Tel Aviv were continuing to operate on Monday, allowing Israeli tourists to return home, Egyptian airport sources said.

The Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was partially closed earlier following an Israeli strike nearby, Egyptian security sources have told an international news agency.

Rafah is the only crossing for Gaza residents in and out of the strip after Israel shut its border crossings.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the ongoing violent conflict between Israel and Palestine has hit over 1,500 with over 900 Israelis and 690 Palestinians killed as at the time of this report on Monday.

LEADERSHIP reports that the clashes broke out after a Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas, attacked Israel on Saturday morning with a barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, killing 22 people instantly.

Consequently, Israel retaliated as
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed, saying: “Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known. We are in a war and we will win it.”

In a related development, the European Union has announced that it was suspending all its longer-term development funding to the Palestinian territories.

The EU is the largest donor to the Palestinians, spending about €691m (£600m; $728m) in aid.

Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said all payments are immediately suspended, all projects put under review, and all new budget proposals postponed.

“The scale of terror and brutality against Israel and its people is a turning point,” Varhelyi said, adding that, “Incitement to hatred, violence and glorification of terror have poisoned the minds of too many. We need action and we need it now.”