13/03/2014 19:51
Cease-fire declared after attacks in Gaza, southern Israel
After two days of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel and attacks by Israel on Gaza, a cease-fire has been declared, an Islamic Jihad leader told CNN on Thursday.
"We have agreed on an Egyptian-brokered truce -- as long as Israel commits to it," said the leader, Khaled Al-Batash.
Sources said the truce started at 3 p.m. (9 a.m. ET).
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had no reaction.
The announcement came shortly after four Palestinian residents were critically wounded in an airstrike on tunnels near the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Palestinian medical sources told CNN.
A Hamas website reported five people were injured in two attacks.
Security sources said one of the attacks struck west of Rafah, destroying two tunnels; a second attack struck east of Rafah on open land.
The Israel Defense Forces said that two rockets hit southern Israel on Thursday and that the country's air force retaliated "by targeting seven terror sites" in southern Gaza.
Since Wednesday, about 65 rockets have struck Israeli territory, five of them hitting populated areas, the IDF said.