Blasts seen along Gaza skyline amid Israel strikes

Israeli airstrikes targeted several Islamic Jihad military sites in the central Gaza Strip on Monday, lighting up the night sky over the Palestinian territory. Earlier on Monday, militants from the Islamic Jihad group had resumed their intense bombardment of southern Israel, with some rockets slipping through Israel's Iron Dome defence system and one landing in the yard of a kindergarten.

Then on Monday evening the group announced a unilateral ceasefire to end two days of heavy fighting with Israel. In a short statement, the Iranian-backed group said it had completed its “retaliation” for Israel's killing of three members. But it said it would respond to any further Israeli “aggression.” There was no immediate Israeli comment. The fighting erupted Sunday after Israel killed an Islamic Jihad militant it said was laying explosives along the border.