Calm in Gaza. Israel demolishes two Palestinian homes in the West Bank

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike in the town of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Reuters

Yesterday morning, the front between Israel and the Gaza Strip calmed down after witnessing 24 hours of mutual shelling that killed one person and five wounded on the Palestinian side and three wounded on the Israeli side, in a round of escalation sparked by the death of a Palestinian prisoner after an 86-day hunger strike.

A truce along the Israel-Gaza Strip border appeared to have been held yesterday morning following a brief outbreak of fighting over the death of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan.

The exchange of fire began on Tuesday, shortly after the death of prisoner Khader Adnan was announced. In Ramallah, Hassan Abed Rabbo, spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization's Commission for Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs, said yesterday that the Israeli authorities still refuse to release the body of Khader Adnan.

Abed Rabbo explained that the commission submitted an urgent request to an Israeli court with the aim of not autopsy Adnan's body and releasing him to hand it over to his family for burial, and is awaiting the outcome of the legal moves.

He added that "Adnan's will during his hunger strike is not to autopsy his body in the event of his death, but there is no clear Israeli position on this, especially in light of the rumors that Israel rejected an Egyptian request to release the body."

In Gaza, Palestinian factions claimed responsibility for firing rockets into Israel, seriously injuring one person.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said yesterday that a 58-year-old man was killed in northern Gaza City in an Israeli air strike on the enclave, wounding five other Palestinians.

On the other hand, the Israeli army announced that it demolished at dawn yesterday two Palestinian homes that carried out separate attacks in the northern West Bank that killed two Israelis.

In the town of Haris, west of Salfit, an army and border guard force surrounded and blew up the family home of 19-year-old Mohammed Sami Souf, the army and the family said.

In the village of Hajjah, east of Qalqilya, the Israeli army demolished the home of prisoner Younis Hailan.

The army said that Younis Hailan carried out a stabbing attack on October 25, 2022, in which Israeli Shalom Sofar was killed near the hotel village.