MILITANT group Hamas has announced a halt to its attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip after two days of militant rocket strikes and Israeli air raids.
"Under our commitment to the national agreement, made in Cairo, to a cooling down period until the end of 2005, the movement announces it has stopped its operations from the Gaza Strip against the Zionist occupation," senior Hamas leader Mahmud Zahar said.
The decision was taken out of concern for the Palestinian people and the halt had come "in the last hour", Mr Zahar said.
Palestinian militants have been observing a de facto truce since Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas was elected in January, an agreement that was cemented at talks brokered by Egypt in Cairo last March.
"Hamas is committed to protect Palestinian people from the Zionist entity and to continue in the climate of celebrations ... The movement is concerned for the Palestinian national interest," he added.
Hamas is also committed to an agreement reached last week with Abbas and the principal Palestinian factions to end armed rallies, Mr Zahar said.
The announcement came after Israel carried out two targeted assassination raids in as many days, killing four Islamist militants, including two Hamas activists.
Scenes of Israeli warplanes pounding Gaza dented widespread hopes of a peace breakthrough after Palestinians fired a volley of rockets into Israel over the weekend.
The violence flared after an explosion on Friday at a Hamas rally in northern Gaza when at least 15 people were killed. Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority say the blast was caused by explosives packed into a Hamas jeep.
Hamas, however, blamed Israel and fired dozens of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel. |