HISTORY'S SHORTEST CEASEFIRE

Israel accepts Palestinian groups’ offer of ceasefire. (JPOST)

Israel has accepted a Palestinian offer of a cease-fire to go into effect Sunday morning, and will halt operations in Gaza in return for an end to all Palestinian violence, including rocket fire, tunneling, and suicide bombers, the Prime Minister’s Office announced Saturday night....

Despite truce, Palestinian attacks go on. (A.P.)

JERUSALEM - Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip as an unexpected truce took hold Sunday, but two major Palestinian militant groups, saying they had no intention of stopping their attacks, fired volleys of homemade rockets into Israel. The rocket attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad tempered hopes for a lasting cease-fire, which was meant to end five months of deadly clashes. The rockets landed in open fields and caused no injuries. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered his security chiefs to send their forces to the Gaza border area to prevent further rocket attacks, according to Palestinian security officials. “The instructions are clear. Anyone violating the national agreement will be considered to be breaking the law,” said Lt. Gen. Abdel Razek Mejaidie. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered the army to show restraint in the face of the rockets. “Even though there are still violations of the cease-fire by the Palestinian side, I have instructed our defense officials not to respond, to show restraint, and to give this cease-fire a chance to take full effect,” he said.