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Ceasefire ends bloody Israel-Gaza fighting

The Israeli army says it has lifted protective restrictions on residents in southern Israel, signalling a ceasefire deal with Palestinian militants in Gaza to end the bloodiest fighting between the sides since a 2014 war.

In another sign of quiet, Hamas’ Al Aqsa radio station also is reporting a ceasefire deal, though there is still no official announcement from the Islamic militant group that rules the coastal strip.

In fighting since the weekend, Palestinian militants have bombarded Israel with hundreds of rockets, while Israel carried out several hundred air strikes on militant targets in Gaza.

Palestinian medical officials have reported 23 deaths, including at least nine militants as well as two pregnant women and two babies. Four Israelis also were killed from incoming fire.

The latest round of fighting erupted three days ago, peaking on Sunday (local time) when rockets and missiles from Gaza killed four civilians in Israel, and Israeli strikes killed 19 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians.

On Monday, two Palestinian officials and a TV station belonging to Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas were the first to report a ceasefire, apparently stopping the violence from broadening into a conflict that neither side seemed keen on fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier he had ordered the military to continue “massive strikes” against Gaza’s ruling Hamas group and Islamic Jihad in the most serious border clashes since a spate of fighting in November.

Israel’s military said more than 600 rockets and other projectiles – more than 150 intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile system – had been fired at southern Israeli cities and villages since Friday. It said it attacked about 320 targets belonging to Gaza militant groups.

But the violence appeared to abate early on Monday.

One rocket that hit a house in Ashkelon on Sunday killed a 58-year-old man, police said. He was the first such Israeli civilian fatality since the seven-week Gaza war in 2014.

Another rocket strike killed a factory worker, a hospital official said. The military said a civilian was killed near the border by an anti-tank missile fired at his car from Gaza and a fourth died when a rocket struck the city of Ashdod.

In Gaza, militant groups identified eight fighters killed in Israeli strikes while medical officials said that nine civilians also died, including a couple and their baby daughter.

Rocket sirens in southern Israel, which had gone off continuously over the weekend, sending residents running for cover, were quiet in the hours just before dawn on Monday. Israel’s military reported no new air strikes in Gaza.

Egypt and the United Nations, which have served as brokers in the past, had been trying to mediate a truce.

Israel’s military said the violence began when a sniper from the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad fired at Israeli troops, wounding two soldiers.

In Gaza, militant groups identified eight fighters killed in Israeli strikes while medical officials said that nine civilians also died, including a couple and their baby daughter.

In what it said was a separate, targeted attack, Israel’s military killed Hamed Ahmed Al-Khodary, a Hamas commander.

The military said he was responsible for transferring money from Iran to armed factions in Gaza. Hamas confirmed Khodary had been killed.

The attack on his car was the first such killing by Israel of a top militant since the war five years ago. Israel had suspended what Palestinians call an assassination policy to try to lower tensions.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh issued a statement late on Sunday saying his group was not seeking a broader conflict.

Some two million Palestinians live in Gaza, the economy of which has suffered years of Israeli and Egyptian blockades as well as recent foreign aid cuts and sanctions by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’ West Bank-based rival.

For residents in Gaza, the escalation comes a day before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began on Monday.

It is traditionally a time for prayer, family feasts to break a daylight fast and shopping.

-with AAP

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