Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza announced a tentative truce with Israel on Tuesday morning after a day of clashes that continued well into Monday night.
In a statement to the Palestinian media, they announced they would stop their rocket fire into Israel and "commit to mediation efforts undertaken by Egypt aimed at reaching a full truce." They conditioned this on Israel halting its retaliatory strikes.
Israel has yet to respond, although a tense calm has so far been maintained Tuesday and the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement it remained "prepared for various scenarios."
Israel remained on high alert, with schools near the border kept closed and residents instructed to stay near bomb shelters.
The fighting on Monday was triggered by a rocket attack on Mishmeret in central Israel, which destroyed a home and injured several family members.
During the height of clashes Monday, sirens sounded in Israeli towns near the border because of repeated rocket attacks, sending residents running for shelter.
The Israel Defense Forces, which amassed extra troops and tanks along the border, said it struck a variety of Hamas targets, including the office of Hamas political bureau chief (and former prime minister) Ismail Haniyeh.
Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group that controls Gaza, and smaller Palestinian factions issued a late-night statement that Egypt had mediated a cease-fire but the rocket fire continued until Tuesday morning, when the factions issued the new cease-fire statement.
The escalation came just two weeks before the April 9 election, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is campaigning on a tough line against Hamas.
Netanyahu cut short a visit to the United States and left to Israel on Monday night.
"Israel will not tolerate this. I will not tolerate this," Netanyahu said on Monday. "And as we speak … Israel is responding forcefully to this wanton aggression."
