Hamas Says Agreement Reached on Mutual Ceasefire With Israel (VIDEO)

TEL AVIV/GAZA (Sputnik) - Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said Monday that the movement has reached an agreement on a mutual ceasefire with Israel.

"Egypt's efforts to cease fire between the occupation forces and resistance factions have turned to be successful", Barhum said in a statement.

A senior Palestinian official told Reuters Monday on condition of anonymity that Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt. The truce went into effect at 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT), according to Reuters.

However, following the reported truce agreement, air-raid sirens went off across the southern part of Israel, the IDF said late on Monday. There was no immediate information about any damage caused by rockets in Israel following the rocket alarm, Reuters reported.

🚨AIR-RAID SIRENS CONTINUE TO SOUND ACROSS SOUTHERN ISRAEL🚨

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) 25 марта 2019 г.

After a brief period, the IDF announced once again that the sirens were going off in southern Israel.

🚨 AIR-RAID SIRENS SOUNDING IN SOUTHERN ISRAEL 🚨 pic.twitter.com/RDBaU53Yd0

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 25, 2019

READ MORE: Prospects of Hamas-Fatah Reconciliation Becoming Smaller Every Day — Scholar

According to local media reports, militants in Gaza launched at least 10 projectiles toward the southern Israeli town of Sderot earlier on Monday.

RAW FOOTAGE: This is what it feels like to be under rocket attack.

Hamas sees all of Israel as a target. pic.twitter.com/EgjIJfT0Mc

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) 25 марта 2019 г.

The Israel Defense Forces earlier said they had destroyed the office of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, and also claimed to have targeted Hamas' internal security service and secret military intelligence headquarters in Gaza.

What do you do at your office each day? Send emails? Create spreadsheets? Make phone calls?

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh uses his office in order to lead a brutal terrorist organization in a war of aggression against Israel.

We just destroyed his office. pic.twitter.com/26KGVlac7F

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) 25 марта 2019 г.

On Monday, Israeli health authorities said that seven people had been injured in central Israel, north of Tel Aviv, as a result of the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. The IDF said they had started striking Hamas targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire that destroyed a house in central Israel.

READ MORE: Israeli Tank Strikes Hamas Post in Gaza in Response to Border Riots — IDF

The rocket was launched 10 days after the shelling of Tel Aviv, the country's second-largest city, to which the Israelis responded with strikes against hundreds of militant targets in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians had not attacked territories so deep inside Israeli since an armed conflict in the summer of 2014, limiting themselves to attacks on southern Israeli regions adjacent to the enclave.

Relations between the Israelis and Palestinians have been extremely poor for decades. The Palestinians are seeking diplomatic recognition of an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which is partially occupied by Israel, and the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government refuses to recognise a Palestinian independent political and diplomatic entity, and continues to build settlements on the occupied areas, despite objections from the United Nations.

READ MORE: IDF Says Pounded Hamas Gaza Targets in Response to Arson Balloons Launches

Last week, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution condemning the excessive use of force by Israel against Palestinians during the Right of Return protests in March.