Israel, Palestinians honoring cease-fire

JERUSALEM -- Israel halted its airstrikes against Gaza Strip militants early yesterday and rocket fire from the Palestinian territory ebbed as a cease-fire ending four days of clashes appeared to be taking effect.

Both sides had indicated no interest in seeing the fighting spiral into all-out war, and an Egyptian security official reported that Egyptian intelligence officials had brokered a truce.

There was no official truce announcement from Israel or Gaza's Hamas rulers, but Israeli Cabinet Minister Matan Vilnai told Israel Radio the latest outbreak of violence "appears to be behind us." In a speech last evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Israel would refrain from any new strikes unless attacked. "Our message is clear, quiet will be met with quiet," he said.

He warned, however, that "anyone who breaks [the peace] or even tries to break it -- our crosshairs will find him." He thanked the 1 million residents of Israel's south for their resilience under fire from Palestinian militants who, according to the Israeli military, launched about 300 rockets across the border over the past four days.

Earlier in the day, Daoud Shihab, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad group responsible for much of the rocket fire, said that "the Egyptian efforts succeeded this morning and a deal was reached."

Months of quiet along the Gaza-Israel border were shattered on Friday with Israel's killing of a militant commander in Gaza whom it accused of plotting to attack Israelis. At least 24 Palestinians, including at least four civilians, died in the cross-border exchanges that followed. There were no Israeli fatalities, but the lives of people in the south were disrupted by frequent sirens warning them to take cover from incoming rockets.