Israel and Gaza militants agree truce after clashes

An Egyptian-mediated truce took effect at 1am (CET) this morning after clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

At least 25 Palestinians died in Israeli air strikes since Friday, reports say. Israel says 35 people were injured in Palestinian rocket attacks.

Officials from Hamas, which runs Gazas, said Israel had agreed to stop targeting leaders of militant groups in Gaza, if rocket attacks on its southern cities ceased.

The deal was brokered by the Egyptian authorities, who reportedly negotiated with each side separately.

Four days of cross-border violence was triggered by an Israeli air strike on Friday that killed a senior leader of the militant group, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), who Israel said had been planning an attack.

Militants in Gaza responded quickly by unleashing a barrage of rockets towards southern Israel, triggering further air strikes. Most of those killed in Gaza were militants, but several civilians also died, Palestinian medical sources say.

Israel said the major reason for a relatively low number of injuries among its population was the country's new Iron Dome missile system, which shot down about 50 rockets launched from Gaza.

The US has condemned the rocket attacks as "cowardly"; the Arab League called the Israeli air strikes "a massacre".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed grave concern over the flare-up in violence, describing rocket attacks on Israeli civilians as "unacceptable" and urging Israel to "exercise maximum restraint".