Agreement between Israel and militants in Gaza

The deal came after four days of violence in which 25 Gazans died and 200 rockets were fired at Israel. Under the agreement, which came into force at 1:00 am (2300 GMT on Monday), both Israel and militants from Islamic Jihad, who were responsible for the lion s share of the rocket attacks, agreed to hold their fire. More than 12 hours later, the nascent truce appeared to be largely holding, although Israeli police said eight rockets and mortar shells had landed, without causing injury or damage. And the skies over Gaza remained calm. Israeli officials and Islamic Jihad both confirmed that a deal was in place. "This morning the situation is relatively quiet, it may be that we find ourselves at the end of this round," Defence Minister Ehud Barak told reporters during a visit to an army headquarters in southern Israel. "There is an understanding, and we are following what s going on in the field," Home Front Defence Minister Matan Vilnai told Israeli public radio. "Apparently things are calming down and this round of confrontations appears to be behind us." In Gaza, an Islamic Jihad spokesman said the radical group was willing to respect the deal if Israel would end its targeted killings of militants. "We accept a ceasefire if Israel agrees to apply it by ending its aggressions and assassinations," Daud Shihab told AFP. But both sides were quick to warn that the agreement would be short lived if the other side stepped out of line. "Any Israeli violation requires a strong response by all factions," said Fawzi Barhum, a spokesman for Gaza s Hamas rulers, who have been seeking Cairo s help to restore calm. The truce, he said, "was not meant to tie the hands of the resistance and its right to respond forcefully to the killings and attacks." Israel s top military officer took the same stance. "If the terrorists maintain the calm, we will do the same; if they fire, we will hit them. Everything depends on them," Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told the radio.