Comment TEL AVIV — Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip have agreed to a ceasefire after more than two days of airstrikes and rocket attacks that have killed 43 people and wounded more than 300 in Gaza and forced thousands of Israelis into shelters. The Islamic Jihad militant group said in a statement that it had agreed to cease hostilities from 11:30 p.m. local time on Sunday. The breakthrough comes as conditions inside Gaza grow increasingly dire, with electricity supplies dwindling and hospitals warning that vital services are close to collapse. Israel said in a statement that it agreed to the ceasefire but that it “reserved the right to respond strongly” to any violation of the agreement. Under the deal, Israel will end airstrikes it has been carrying out in Gaza since Friday, which killed two senior Islamic Jihad leaders. Islamic Jihad had to stop the rocket attacks. had fired over 600 missiles at Israel, including Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, the vast majority of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense systems. The ceasefire ended more than two days of intense cross-border violence that began on Friday when Israel killed Islamic Jihad’s Tayseer Jabari, the group’s head of operations in the northern Gaza Strip. On Saturday, Israel killed Khaled Mansour, head of Islamic Jihad operations in southern Gaza, in an airstrike that demolished a house in Rafah, near the Egyptian border. Israeli and Palestinian diplomats had said on Sunday afternoon that ceasefire talks, through Egyptian and Qatari-backed channels, were progressing. The violence continued as negotiators worked. Images on social media showed some of the most harrowing scenes of an escalation that killed 11 children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The videos included a person hit by an explosion while riding a horse and a man running from the strike site with the bloodied body of a small child. Rocket teams set off air raid sirens around southern and central Israel late Sunday, including at Ben Gurion Airport, where officials briefly halted landings after anti-aircraft missiles blew up at least one missile near approach routes. The Israeli military said it had hit more than 140 Islamic Jihad targets and “neutralized” the group’s top brass and assets, including tunnels used by the militants to carry out attacks, weapons storage facilities and missile launch sites. No deaths have been reported in Israel, where the Iron Dome missile defense system has intercepted about 97 percent of the roughly 470 rockets fired from Gaza since Friday, according to the Israeli military. He said about 20 percent failed to detonate and landed in Gaza. Israeli strikes in Gaza kill senior militant leader, at least 9 others In the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, an explosion on Saturday night killed at least four children. The Israeli military, which shared satellite footage of rocket fire from the enclave, said the casualties were the result of a failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad and that it was not carrying out an airstrike at the time of the blast. It said it was still investigating the circumstances of an explosion in Jambaliya on Sunday morning. A spokesman for Gaza’s interior ministry, Eyad al-Bozom, said Israel “bears full responsibility for this crime and all the crimes it commits during its violent aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip.” Muhammad Abu Qaida, from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, said his cousin Naama Abu Qaida, 56, was among those killed in the Israeli operation. She said she and her family were in a parked car near their home, heading to her daughter’s wedding. Abu Qaeda said two of his family members were taken to hospital in critical condition. “We didn’t expect anything to happen in the area and nothing was heard from the area,” Abu Qaeda said. “It is hundreds of meters away from the Erez Pass and is exposed to Israel.” A UN delegation from the United Arab Emirates, which represents Arab countries at the international body and has been expanding ties with Israel in recent years, formally tabled a proposal to convene the Security Council on behalf of the Palestinians. The Israeli operation, codenamed Breaking Dawn, comes just over a year after Israel’s May 2021 war in Gaza with Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the enclave. The rockets aimed at Jerusalem come as observant Jews mark the holiday of Tisha B’Av, during which more than 2,000 Jews climbed to a disputed holy site known as the Temple Mount by Jews and the Noble Sanctuary by Muslims. The elevated esplanade is officially managed by the Jordanian authorities, which prohibit non-Muslim prayer at the site, although the policy has been increasingly breached in recent years by the rise of politically active Jewish believers. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters in and around the flashpoint led to an 11-day war last year that killed more than 200 people in Gaza and 12 people in Israel. Itamar Ben Gvir, the leader of a far-right Israeli movement and advocate for allowing visitors of all faiths to pray on the Temple Mount, visited the site Sunday morning, flanked by police, and shouted: “The nation of Israel lives !”. The Palestinians around him countered: “God is great!” “We will never surrender, not to the rockets, not to the threats of the terrorists and not to those of us who attack me,” Ben Gvir tweeted, including a photo of his son on the Temple Mount. The final round of battles has begun last week, when Israel arrested the leader of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, Bassem al-Saadi, as part of ongoing raids that followed attacks on Palestinian citizens of Israel and other Palestinians in the spring. A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive security situation, said Sunday that Israeli security forces arrested 20 Islamic Jihad operatives in raids in the West Bank, an additional 19 the night before. During the two days of clashes, Hamas has not claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks on Israel. Israel blames the group for all of those attacks coming from the Gaza Strip, and Israeli analysts say any involvement of Hamas in this round of fighting would increase the scope of the Israeli operation. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said “intense efforts with all parties” were underway. A Middle East official said “talks are ongoing with Egypt to reach a ceasefire,” speaking on condition of anonymity because of the volatility of the mediation. A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Israel was ready to open humanitarian corridors, provide fuel for generators and deliver hospital supplies once the rockets stopped. “Quiet will be answered with quiet,” he said. “Once Islamic Jihad stops shooting and Hamas gets the hang of things, it could happen very quickly.” President Biden said in a statement Sunday night that he welcomes the cease-fire announcement. “My support for Israel’s security is longstanding and unwavering — including its right to defend itself against attack,” he said, adding that the United States supports an investigation into civilian deaths in Gaza. “Israelis and Palestinians both deserve to live in safety and security and to enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy,” Biden said. “My government will remain engaged with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to support this vision.” Balousha reported from Gaza City. Miriam Berger in Jerusalem contributed to this report.