Eight Palestinians, including a local commander of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza, were killed since a truce was called on Monday, raising to 26 the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes in the past week.
An Israeli man has also been killed in rocket attacks launched by Gaza militants since the weekend.
The Palestinian official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel and the Islamic Jihad group both told Cairo they would abide by the Egyptian and United Nations mediated truce announced on Monday.
A statement issued overnight by Taher Al-Nono, spokesman of the Hamas government in Gaza, said his administration held talks with Egypt and the United Nations to press Israel to stop attacks and urged factions to stop rocket fire into Israel.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said no rockets had been fired from Gaza since Thursday.
The surge of violence began on Aug. 18 when gunmen who Israel said had infiltrated from Gaza via Egypt’s neighboring Sinai desert killed eight Israelis on a desert border road.
Seven of the attackers were killed by Israeli forces and Egypt said five of its men died in the crossfire.
Meanwhile, a Gaza militant leader said Friday that his Islamic Jihad group would be watching Israel’s response to the cease-fire.
Muhammed Al-Hindi, a leader of the Palestinian faction, said the Egyptian-mediated truce went into effect Friday.
“We are evaluating and monitoring the commitment of the occupation government to the cease-fire,” said Al-Hindi, adding that Israel “carries full responsibility for the latest escalation, and for any future violations of this cease-fire.”
There was no immediate Israeli government reaction.
