Gaza truce mostly holds

Gaza City : A ceasefire announced by Hamas largely held Sunday after the most severe exchange of fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip since a 2014 war, easing fears of a wider conflict for now.

Hamas said late Saturday a ceasefire had been reached with the help of Egypt and others, though Israel declined to comment.

The United Nations’ Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov was in Gaza and “working with all concerned parties to de-escalate the situation,” a UN official said on condition of anonymity.

In a press conference, he called on “everybody to step back from the brink”.

Despite a few lower-level exchanges of fire, relative calm returned to the Gaza Strip.

In one incident on Sunday, an Israeli aircraft fired at what it said was militants launching balloons carrying firebombs over the Gaza border fence. It was not clear if there were casualties.

Saturday saw dozens of Israeli air strikes, killing two Palestinians, while some 200 rockets and mortars were fired from the enclave at Israel. Four Israelis were wounded when a rocket hit a house in the city of Sderot near the Gaza Strip, authorities said.

The two Palestinians killed were aged 15 and 16, caught in an Israeli strike on a building in Gaza City, the enclave’s health ministry said.

Twenty-five people were wounded across Gaza, it said.