Israel reopens Gaza crossings as calm restored

Israel reopened Sunday its crossings with the
blockaded Gaza Strip after closing them during a deadly escalation earlier this
month, an official said, as a fragile truce held.
Both the Erez crossing for people and Kerem Shalom
crossing for goods were open and operating, a spokeswoman for COGAT, the defense
ministry unit that oversees the crossings, said in a statement.
Both had been closed on May 4, when Gaza rulers
Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rockets at Israel, with the
army striking dozens of targets in Gaza in response.
Four Israeli civilians and 25 Palestinians,
including at least nine militants, were killed in the two-day flare-up, which
ended on Monday in a tentative truce.
Palestinian officials said Israel had agreed to ease
its crippling decade-long blockade of the impoverished enclave in exchange for
calm.
Israel did not publicly confirm the deal, but on
Friday lifted the ban it had imposed on Palestinian fishing boats operating off
Gaza.
Israel says its blockade is necessary to isolate
Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars since 2008.
But critics say it amounts to collective punishment
of Gaza’s two million residents.