CAIRO/GAZA, (Reuters) – Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip agreed today to an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire to halt an eight-day conflict that killed 162 Palestinians and five Israelis.
Both sides fought right up to 9 p.m (1900 GMT) when hostilities were due to stop, with several explosions shaking Gaza City and rockets hitting the Israeli city of Beersheba.
Even after the deadline passed, a dozen rockets from Gaza landed in Israel, all in open areas, a police spokesman said.
If it holds, the truce will give 1.7 million Gazans respite from days of ferocious air strikes and halt rocket salvoes from militants that unnerved a million people in southern Israel and reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time.
“Allahu akbar, (God is greatest), dear people of Gaza you won,” blared mosque loudspeakers in the enclave as the truce took effect. “You have broken the arrogance of the Jews.”
Fifteen minutes later, wild celebratory gunfire echoed across the darkened streets of Gaza, which gradually filled with crowds waving Palestinian flags. Ululating women leaned out of windows and fireworks lit up the sky.
Hamas leaders welcomed the agreement, calling it a triumph for armed resistance, and thanking Egypt for its role.
Some Israelis staged protests against the deal, notably in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi, where three Israelis were killed by a Gaza rocket during the conflict, army radio said.
Announcing the agreement in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said mediation had “resulted in understandings to cease fire, restore calm and halt the bloodshed”.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, standing beside Amr, thanked Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Mursi for peace efforts that showed “responsibility, leadership” in the region.
“SEVERE MILITARY ACTION”
The Gaza conflict erupted in a Middle East already shaken by last year’s Arab uprisings that toppled several veteran U.S.-backed leaders, including Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, and by a civil war in Syria, where Bashar al-Assad is fighting for survival.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had agreed to “exhaust this opportunity for an extended truce”, but told his people a tougher approach might be required in the future.
“I know there are citizens expecting a more severe military action, and perhaps we shall need to do so,” he said.
The Israeli leader, who faces a parliamentary election in January, delivered a similar message earlier in a telephone call with U.S. President Barack Obama, his office said.
Obama in turn reiterated his country’s commitment to Israel’s security and promised to seek funds for a joint missile defence programme, the White House said.
Hamas leaders taunted Israel, with the movement’s exiled chief Khaled Meshaal saying in Cairo that the Jewish state had failed in its military “adventure”. But he pledged to uphold the truce if the Israelis complied with it.
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s chief in Gaza and its prime minister there, said: “We are satisfied and proud of this agreement and at the steadfastness of our people and their resistance.”
According to a text of the agreement seen by Reuters, both sides should halt all hostilities, with Israel desisting from incursions and targeting of individuals, while all Palestinian factions should cease rocket fire and cross-border attacks.
