Israel and Islamic Jihad militants on Sunday began a precarious Egyptian-brokered truce hoped to end three days of intense conflict in Gaza that has left at least 44 Palestinians dead, including 15 children.
The truce, which officially started at 11:30 pm (2030 GMT), aims to stem the worst fighting in Gaza since an 11-day war last year devastated the Palestinian coastal territory.
But a flurry of strikes and rocket attacks took place in the run-up to the truce, with sirens sounding in southern Israel moments before and after the deadline.
In a statement sent three minutes after the ceasefire began, Israelâs army said that âin response to rockets fired toward Israeli territory, the (military) is currently striking a wide range of targetsâ belonging to Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
In a subsequent statement, the army said its âlastâ strikes took place at 11:25 pm.
While both sides had agreed to the truce, each had warned the other that it would respond with force to any violence.
âThe situation is still very fragile, and I urge all parties to observe the ceasefire,â UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland said in a statement.
â âRespond stronglyâ â
Since Friday, Israel has carried out heavy aerial and artillery bombardment of Islamic Jihad positions in Gaza, with the militants firing hundreds of rockets in retaliation.
Buildings in Gaza have been reduced to rubble, while Israelis have been forced to shelter from a barrage of rockets.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapidâs office late Sunday thanked âEgypt for its effortsâ as it agreed to the truce, but said it that âif the ceasefire is violatedâ, Israel âmaintains the right to respond stronglyâ.
Islamic Jihad member Mohammad al-Hindi had already confirmed the militants had accepted the truce, but the group added in a statement that it too âreserves the right to respondâ to any aggression.
In addition to the 44 people killed including 15 children, the Gaza health ministry said 360 people had been wounded in the Palestinian enclave, which is run by the Islamist group Hamas.
Israel insists several children in the territory have been killed by stray militant rockets.
Three people in Israel have been wounded by shrapnel, while 31 others have been lightly hurt, emergency services said.
Islamic Jihadâs Hindi said the ceasefire deal âcontains Egyptâs commitment to work towards the release of two prisonersâ.
The pair were named as Bassem al-Saadi, a senior figure in the groupâs political wing who was recently arrested in the occupied West Bank, and Khalil Awawdeh, a militant also in Israeli detention.
â âTerrifyingâ â
Gaza resident Nour Abu Sultan had said earlier Sunday that she was âawaiting the declaration of the ceasefire on tenterhooksâ.
âWe havenât slept for days (due to) heat and shelling and rockets, the sound of aircraft hovering above us⊠is terrifying,â the 29-year-old said.
Dalia Harel, a resident in the Israeli town of Sderot close to the Gaza border, said she was âdisappointedâ at news of a truce despite her five children being âtraumatisedâ.
âWeâre tired of having a military operation every year,â she said. âWe need our military and political leaders to get it over with once and for all⊠weâre not for war, but we canât go on like this.â
Islamic Jihad is aligned with Hamas but often acts independently. Hamas has fought four wars with Israel since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, including the conflict in May last year.
The Israeli army has said the entire âsenior leadership of the military wing of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza has been neutralisedâ.
Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director general of the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, said medics were treating wounded people in a âvery bad conditionâ, warning of dire shortages of drugs and fuel to run power generators.
The army said it had struck over a hundred Islamic Jihad positions, with the militants firing hundreds of rockets and mortars, some of them falling short inside Gaza.
Israel has said it was necessary to launch a âpre-emptiveâ operation Friday against Islamic Jihad, which it said was planning an imminent attack.
The army has killed senior leaders of Islamic Jihad in Gaza, including Taysir al-Jabari in Gaza City and Khaled Mansour in Rafah in the south.