But an airstrike on Rafah early on Wednesday which killed Islamic Jihad militant Ismail Al-Ismar sparked a flurry of retaliatory rocket attacks, followed by further Israeli raids, rendering the truce agreement practically meaningless.
In a series of raids, which began on Wednesday evening, another five Gazans were killed, and 30 injured medics said, while the Israeli military said 19 rockets had hit areas of southern Israel, lightly injuring an infant.
After the Jihad militant was killed on Wednesday morning, medics later found the body of 65-year-old Ismail Amum who died in an earlier raid near Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.
An evening raid on Gaza City killed another Jihad militant called Atiya Muqat, 20, while a strike on Rafah killed Hisham Abu Har who was working inside the cross-border tunnels.
Early on Thursday, an air raid on Beit Lahiya in the north killed civilian Salam Al-Masri, and injured another 20.
One of the injured who was in critical condition later died from his injuries, medics said, naming him as Adnan Al-Jakhbir, a 22-year-old civilian.
Israel vowed on Thursday to keep up its operation against Islamic Jihad.
A music festival that was to be held in the southern city of Ashkelon was canceled, conforming with military recommendations against large gatherings in tense security times, the military said.
Also Wednesday, Israeli defense officials said Israel gave Egypt the results of an initial military probe into the deaths of Egyptian police officers during fights between Israeli soldiers and militants Thursday.
The officials said video filmed from a helicopter during the fighting shows soldiers didn’t shoot toward locations near the Egyptian positions even after they came under attack from missile attacks and sniper fire from militants there.
The head of Israel’s southern command is heard in military radio transmissions ordering soldiers not to shoot in the Egyptian’s direction, the officials said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to speak with the media, did not explain how the preliminary report addresses how the police officers died.
Three militants killed were Egyptian, including one that had escaped from an Egyptian jail during the chaos surrounding the recent ouster of longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, they said.
