Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt on the eighth day of intensive Israeli fire on the Gaza Strip and militant rocket attacks out of the enclave, Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said.
A bomb exploded on a bus in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday, wounding 15 people in what Israeli officials said was a terrorist attack that could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
More than 80 rockets were fired at southern Israel in the seventh day since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense, including two aimed at Jerusalem.
As Hamas\’ leader in exile, Khaled Mashaal, brushed off a halt to bombings, Israeli airstrikes hit a Gaza media center and killed several leaders of Islamic Jihad.
Hostilities between Islamist militants and Israel entered a sixth day on Monday as diplomatic efforts were set to intensify to try to stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Israeli air strikes on Gaza.
Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas government buildings in Gaza on Saturday, including the prime minister\’s office, after Israel\’s cabinet authorized the mobilization of up to 75,000 reservists in preparation for a possible ground invasion.
Israeli ministers were on Friday asked to endorse the call-up of up to 75,000 reservists after Palestinian militants nearly hit Jerusalem with a rocket for the first time in decades and fired at Tel Aviv for a second day.
Palestinian militants reportedly fired 21 rockets from Gaza into Israel during a unilateral ceasefire called by Israel to facilitate a visit to Gaza by Egypt’s prime minister.
President Mohamed Morsi condemned Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip as unacceptable aggression on Thursday and ordered Egypt\’s prime minister to visit the besieged enclave in a show of support for the Palestinians.
Egypt\’s foreign ministry condemned on Wednesday a series of Israeli strikes that killed a Hamas top military commander in the Gaza Strip and called for an immediate halt to the attacks.
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