The ceasefire fire was announced hours earlier before it took hold, after a meeting between Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“The United States welcomes the agreement today for a ceasefire. In the days ahead, the United States will work with partners in the region to consolidate this progress,” Clinton said. She indicated that the deal came at “a critical moment for the region.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr appeared with Clinton to announce that a cease-fire would begin at 19:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Mohamed Kamel Amr thanked all parties involved in brokering the truce as he made the announcement in a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

“Egypt appreciates the role of the Arab League, the valuable contributions of Turkey and Qatar, and those of the Secretary General of the United Nations to support the efforts of the Government of Egypt to end the violence. At the same time, Egypt calls upon the international community to be engaged in monitoring the implementation of the Egyptian-brokered agreement and to ensure all parties adhere to these agreements,” Amr said.

Eight days of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed at least 160 Palestinians since the army assassinated a senior Hamas military official, Ahmed Jabari, last Wednesday. Palestinian armed groups responded with rockets that killed five Israelis, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

“A short while ago, a ceasefire agreement regarding the fighting in the south, came into effect. Following eight days of operations, the IDF has accomplished its pre-determined objectives for Operation Pillar of Defense, and has inflicted severe damage to Hamas and its military capabilities,” a press release by IDF said.

According to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press, Israel and all Palestinian militant groups agreed to halt “all hostilities.” This means Israel has to end airstrikes and assassinations of wanted militants, while Palestinians have to halt rocket fire from inside Gaza.

After a 24 hour period, the agreement calls for “opening the crossings and facilitating the movement of people and transfer of goods, and refraining from restricting residents’ free movement,” according to AP.

However according to Israeli sources even though Israel has agreed to a truce, it will not lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory, which is run by the Islamist Hamas movement.

After the ceasefire appeared to take hold, Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate what they called a victory over Israel.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to an Egyptian request to cease all offensive operations in Gaza during the visit of the Egyptian prime minister there this morning, which is supposed to last for about three hours,” the official said according to Reuters.

Egypt’s PM Hisham Kandil arrived in Gaza on Friday morning, accompanied by a number of aides to the Egyptian President to explore the possibility of brokering a ceasefire.

However, the temporary truce comes after the Palestinian territory suffered heavy bombardment for a third day straight , with Israeli warplanes carrying out multiple new air strikes on the Gaza Strip, early on Friday.

The Israeli army said it had carried out 466 air strikes since it launched “Operation Pillar of Defence” on Wednesday afternoon with the targeted killing of Hamas commander Ahmed Jabari, according to AFP. The army added that 11 rockets had been fired from Gaza at Israel overnight, increasing the total to 280 rockets since Wednesday afternoon.

Gazans are concerned that a ground assault remains a possibility as troops and tanks massed near Israel’s southern border with the Palestinian territory as Israel has given the green light to the call-up of up to 30,000 army reservists.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s new Islamist president, having recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv in reaction to ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, Cairo is now attempting to mediate a negotiated truce between Palestinian resistance group Hamas and Israel, according to state-run Al Ahram.

On Thursday, Cairo called on the US government to urge Israel to be more responsive to truce proposals. The US, however, has not made any promises to pressure Israel in this regard.

Israeli airstrike, naval gunboats and tanks carried on through dawn in southern Gaza Strip on Thursday morning killing 11 Palestinians and leaving many injured, according to Al Jazeera. Also on Thursday, Israeli media reported that three Israelis have been killed in Southern Israel.

Speaking on Wednesday night, hours after a wave of air strikes pounded targets in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, killing Ahmad Jabari, Netanyahu vowed that Israel would not tolerate any further rocket fire on its territory while the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, issued a communiqué saying Israel had “opened the gates of hell on itself.”

Ahmed Jabari, the head of the military wing of the Palestinian group Hamas that controls Gaza, was killed on Wednesday when his car was reportedly targeted during Israeli air strikes on the territory that followed a wave of rocket attacks against Israel from Gaza.

Jabari is the most senior Hamas official to be killed since an Israeli invasion of Gaza four years ago. Hamas said it had fired at least 20 rockets into Israel in retaliation for Jabari’s killing.

Meanwhile, Egypt recalled its ambassador from Israel on Wednesday hours after the death Hamas’s top military commander, presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said.

The strikes came after five days of rising tensions along the Gaza border which began on Saturday when Palestinian fighters fired an anti-tank rocket at an army jeep, sparking Israeli fire which killed seven.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke by telephone on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi about the escalating violence in Gaza and southern Israel, while the Security Council met in a closed, late-night session on the situation.

According to a readout from the Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Mr. Ban expressed his concern to Mr. Netanyahu about the deteriorating situation in southern Israel and Gaza, which includes an alarming escalation of indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and the targeted killing by Israel of a Hamas military operative in Gaza.