Islamic Jihad halting Gaza rocket fire

GAZA (Reuters) – Islamic Jihad militants have agreed to
halt rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip unless there
are more Israeli air raids on the territory, a Palestinian
official said on Sunday.

The official said the deal was reached between the
Palestinian Authority and the militant group to try to end one
of the worst surges of violence since a truce was agreed almost
nine months ago.

“Islamic Jihad has reiterated its commitment to calm,” the
official told Reuters, referring to the truce deal.

Khaled al-Batsh, a leader for Islamic Jihad in Gaza said
“if the enemy stops its attacks, our commitment to calm will be
maintained.”

There had been no rocket fire into Israel or Israeli
airstrikes on Gaza since Saturday.

Islamic Jihad did not say that it would halt suicide
bombings like one which killed five Israelis on Wednesday.

After that attack, Israel vowed to destroy the
infrastructure of Islamic Jihad, which is committed to
eliminating the Jewish state. Israeli air strikes killed nine
people in Gaza last week, including a senior Islamic Jihad
commander. Most of the dead were militants.