The cross-border exchange of fire between Palestinian militants shooting rockets from Gaza and bombing raids by the Israeli air force ended in a truce today.
Both sides indicated they did not want the fighting to spiral into all-out war. Egyptian intelligence officials brokered a ceasefire.
There was no official announcement from Israel or Hamas, which controls Gaza, but Israeli cabinet minister Matan Vilnai told Israel Radio the latest outbreak of violence “appears to be behind us”.
Daoud Shihab, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad group responsible for much of the rocket fire, said that “the Egyptian efforts succeeded this morning and a deal was reached”.
Twenty-four Palestinians, including five civilians, died in the fighting that began on Friday after Israel killed a militant commander in Gaza.
There were no Israeli fatalities, but the lives of one million people living in southern Israel were disrupted by frequent sirens warning them to take cover from incoming rockets.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said more than 200 rockets were fired at Israel between Friday and 1am today.
As a precaution, schools in southern Israel that serve 200,000 students remained closed for a third day.
