Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad agreed to a Cairo-mediated truce to take effect late on Sunday, sources said, raising hopes of an end to the most serious flare-up on the Gaza frontier in more than a year. Israeli forces pounded Palestinian targets through the weekend after PIJ threatened to target Israeli civilians, triggering longer-range rocket attacks against its cities.
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PIJ , the faction that Israel has been fighting in Gaza since Friday, and a Palestinian official familiar with the ceasefire efforts said the truce would come into effect at 23:30 (20:30 GMT). Israel did not immediately confirm this, but official Israeli sources said the ceasefire has been reached while speaking with Israel Hayom and said it would take effect as planned. About 30 minutes before the start of the truce, the Prime Minister's Office issued an official statement formally accepting it. "The Public Diplomacy Directorate at the PMO said that Israel would abide by the truce and "thanks Egypt for its efforts" in brokering it. It further noted that "if the other side breaches it, the State of Israel reserves the right to respond forcefully," adding that "we would not let anyone disrupt the daily lives of Israeli residents."
Just moments before the truce was set to take effect, a massive barrage of rockets was fired on Israeli communities in the south, including Beersheba.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources had previously given earlier times for the truce. The latest clashes have echoed preludes to previous Gaza wars, though they have been relatively contained as Hamas, the governing Islamist terrorist group in the Gaza Strip and a more powerful force than Iranian-backed PIJ, has so far stayed out.
Gaza officials said 41 Palestinians, almost half of them civilians and including children, had so far been killed, although in many cases this was because of rockets that were aimed at Israel but exploded prematurely. The rockets have threatened much of southern Israel and sent residents in communities including Tel Aviv, the Jerusalem-environs and Ashkelon to shelters.
Israel launched Operation Breaking Dawn on Friday by assassinating a PIJ senior official in the Gaza Strip, after it had no choice and had to act to pre-empt a terrorist act by the PIJ, which vowed to avenge the arrest of a leader of the group, Bassam al-Saadi, several days earlier in Judea and Samaria, where a successful counterterrorism raid was conducted.
During the three days of fighting, PIJ fired hundreds of rockets at Israel. The group said the truce would involve al-Saadi's release through Egyptian guarantees, although Israeli officials did not immediately comment. On Sunday, PIJ extended its range to fire toward Jerusalem in what it described as retaliation for the overnight killing of its southern Gaza commander by Israel – the second such senior officer it has lost in the fighting.
Israel said its Iron Dome interceptor, whose success rate the army put at 97%, shot down the rockets just west of the city.
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