The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has called a halt to air strikes and raids into the Gaza Strip in response to a drop in rocket fire from the territory, his officials said today.
Israeli defence officials and Hamas, which controls Gaza, said there was no formal agreement in place, but an informal truce appeared to be in effect.
Officials in the Israeli prime minister's office said Olmert had ordered the army to scale back its operations to allow Egypt to proceed with mediation talks.
With US backing, Egypt has been trying to mediate a truce between Israel and Hamas. Officials from the warring sides have travelled to Egypt in recent days to discuss the matter.
Read the entire article here >
