Skies quiet over Gaza as truce deal takes hold

The skies over Gaza were quiet early on Thursday as an Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas took hold after a spurt of violence left four Palestinians dead and two Thai workers wounded in Israel.

“There has been no rocket fire at Israel nor any Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since Wednesday night,” a spokeswoman for the Israeli military told reporters.

Israeli schools near the border were operating as normal, public radio said, after being closed for the day due to heavy rocket fire which began on Tuesday night and sparked a brief but deadly confrontation between militants and the Israeli army.

In Gaza, Palestinians officials also confirmed a quiet night without any air strikes.

Sources on both sides told reporters that the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement had gone into effect at 6am Hong Kong time.

The agreement put an end to 24 hours of bloodshed, which saw a series of Israeli air strikes that killed four Palestinian militants while armed groups fired than 70 rockets and mortars over the border seriously wounding two Thai workers.