Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip have agreed to halt rocket fire on Israel, but will not do so until it receives assurances that Israel will stop bombing attacks on the salient, a senior Hamas official said Sunday.
If Israel's answer is positive, a ceasefire could come into effect as early as Sunday night, Hamas' Ahmed Yousef told the German Press Agency dpa.
An Israeli spokesman would not comment on Yousef's claims.
Israel has launched air raids on the Gaza Strip, and militias in the salient have pounded southern Israeli cities, towns and villages with rockets, since Thursday afternoon, after Palestinian gunmen infiltrated into Israel and shot up vehicles traveling near the border with Egypt.
Some 14 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli raids. Nine Israelis have also been killed since Thursday afternoon, eight in the Thursday afternoon shoot-up that sparked the latest violence, and one when a rocket slammed into the city of Beersheba Saturday night.