Hamas has won an agreement from other militant groups in Gaza to halt rocket fire into Israel for the first time in almost a year, asboth sides indicated progress on a deal to release a captured Israeli soldier.
The agreement, announced , appears to be an attempt by the Palestinian Islamist movement to prevent another descent into fighting at a time when reconstruction has barely begun almost 12 months after the devastating conflict with Israel.
It also reflected more progress in secretly mediated talks to release Gilad Shalit, the soldier captured more than three years ago, in exchange for the return of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Last month, Hamas handed over a video showing Shalit in apparent good health, in return for which Israel freed 20 female Palestinian prisoners.
A Hamas newsletter issued yesterday said a deal was "reaching completion."
The Israeli president, Shimon Peres, in Cairo for talks with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, whose government has acted as a mediator in the case said: "As we all know, there is progress. I hope it will end positively." Reports suggested Israel would release 450 prisoners once Shalit had been handed over to Egypt and flown to Israel. At a later date, another 550 prisoners would be freed, but disagreements remain over exactly who and where they would be returned to.
Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, Israel's chief of staff, said yesterday: "We have a deep commitment … to bring [Shalit] home, but I prefer to leave this effort behind the scenes."
Hours after Fathi Hamad, the Hamas interior minister in Gaza, announced the ceasefire agreement, Israeli jets bombed what the military said were two "weapons-manufacturing facilities" in northern and central Gaza.
The strikes, in which seven Palestinians were injured, also targeted a smuggling tunnel. The Israel Defence Force (IDF) said it had been responding to rocket fire early yesterday.
An IDF statement said nearly 270 rockets and mortars had been fired from Gaza at Israel since the end of the war in January – far fewer than in previous years.
Hamas is believed to have stopped firing rockets after the war, but it took months to persuade more hardline groups – such as Islamic Jihad – to stop as well.
Israel has maintained a tight economic blockade on Gaza, and continues to prevent the import of most construction supplies. Egyptian cement has been smuggled in through tunnels.