A calm calm has prevailed in the Gaza Strip hours after a cease-fire agreement with Israel came into effect three days after the escalation between the Palestinian factions and Israel and the exchange of attacks, in conjunction with the announcement of a rise in the number of martyrs in the Strip to 31 A Palestinian, after a number of martyrs were recovered from the rubble.
Palestinian leaders in the Gaza Strip agreed to a ceasefire with Israel early on Wednesday after the most serious confrontation since the war in 2014, three officials familiar with the negotiations said.
An Israeli army spokeswoman did not want to comment on the deal. An AFP correspondent said there had been no rocket fire by Palestinians or Israeli air strikes since the deal went into effect.
Israel lifted restrictions on the movement of civilians near the border with the Gaza Strip.
The movement returned to normal in the streets of the Gaza Strip and local markets, while Israeli raids and Palestinian rocket attacks stopped.
Work crews began to open roads and remove the rubble of buildings and houses destroyed from the streets in different parts of the Gaza Strip.
Egypt brokered the agreement, which came into effect at 4:30 am yesterday, according to a Hamas official in the Gaza Strip and another in the Islamic Jihad movement, who demanded anonymity.
An Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the deal.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ashtia welcomed the ceasefire agreement between the Israeli forces and the Palestinians. "I hope that the agreement will preserve the lives of our children and stop the repeated tragedy of the people of Gaza," he said.
Shtayyeh called on the United Nations to intervene immediately to prevent the possibility of renewed Israeli aggression on Gaza and to provide international protection for the people of Gaza.
The escalation began last Saturday with the launch of hundreds of rockets from Gaza and Israel responded with air strikes that continued yesterday.
The number of Palestinian martyrs rose to 31, including at least nine from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, while four were killed on the Israeli side.
The rise came after the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, yesterday, recovered the bodies of two martyrs killed in an Israeli raid on the northern Gaza Strip, the night before last.
The ministry added that a pregnant woman and a 14-month-old child were among the martyrs killed yesterday, but an Israeli army spokesman said that based on intelligence information, "we are now confident" that the deaths of women and children were not the result of an Israeli strike.
He said that "their unfortunate death is not caused by a weapon (Israeli), but by a Hamas rocket fired and exploded in the wrong place."
The Hamas ministry said last night that a four-month-old boy was among the martyrs killed yesterday, but the Israeli army refused to comment. An official of Islamic Jihad said that the new cease-fire agreement was "provided that it is reciprocal and synchronized, and provided that the occupation implements the understandings to break the siege on the Gaza Strip."
According to the Palestinian official, among the steps «will be the return of fishing area from six to 15 miles, and to complete the improvement of electricity and fuel and import of goods and improve export».
For its part, the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, the death of one of its leaders Hamed al-Khudari Israeli raid.
The Israeli army said it killed al-Khudari in a "targeted strike," pointing out that he "is responsible for transferring funds from Iran to terrorist organizations operating within the Strip."
Netanyahu announced yesterday that he ordered the army to "continue its intensive strikes on terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip."
The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, said last night that "a return to calm is possible, and maintaining it depends on the commitment of the occupation to a complete cease-fire completely." "Without that, the arena will be a candidate for many rounds of confrontation."
About 690 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel since Saturday, according to the Israeli army, which noted Israeli air defenses intercepted more than 240 of them.
In addition to the deaths and injuries, rockets fired sirens in southern Israel and damaged homes.
The Israeli army said it had responded by targeting its tanks and aircraft about 350 military positions of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad. One of the target sites is a tunnel dedicated to Islamic Jihad attacks that runs from the southern Gaza Strip to Israel, according to army spokesman Jonathan Conricos.
Hamas and Jihad announced yesterday that their military wings were targeting an Israeli military vehicle with the Cornet missile.
Conricos said a mechanism hit the Cornet missile, killing an Israeli civilian.
Egyptian and UN officials held talks to broker a ceasefire and international calls for calm.
For his part, US President Donald Trump, the day before yesterday, that Israel has the full support of Washington. "Once again, Israel is facing a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by the terrorist groups Hamas and Jihad," Trump wrote on Twitter. We support Israel 100% in defending its citizens. "