Gaza calms down after missile strikes and new threats

Following a series of Palestinian rocket attacks across the border into Israel's Western Negev region which prompted swift retaliatory attacks from Israel, precarious calm settled on Gaza on Monday.

The militant Hamas group announced a cease-fire while another group, Islamic Jihad, vows to revenge the assassination of one if its leaders by the Israelis.

On Sunday, Israel appeared to resume it policy of "targeted killings" of Palestinian militant leaders when Mohammed Khalil, commander of Islamic Jihad's military wing in Gaza died after Israeli helicopters fired at a car he was travelling in. His deputy was also killed and four other people were wounded in the attack.

Israeli military officials cited by the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz, said that Khalil, believed responsible for the death of 15 Israeli soldiers and civilians, was on a list of senior terror activists in the Gaza Strip that the security forces had decided to hit following the recent escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip that began Friday.

According to the AKI, Israel had tried on three previous occasions to target Khalil, a former Fatah member who joined Islamic Jihad and became the commander of its Al-Quds battalions in the southern Strip. During one attempt, Khalil's brother was killed when missiles were shot at his family's home in Rafah.