By Nidal al-Mughrabi&nbsp;and&nbsp;Maayan Lubell
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -A&nbsp;truce&nbsp;between&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;and&nbsp;the militant&nbsp;Islamic&nbsp;Jihad&nbsp;group officially came into effect late on Saturday night, with an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire&nbsp;agreement meant to end the worst episode of cross-border fire since a 10-day war in 2021.
As fighting tapered off, streets in&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;that had largely been deserted filled with&nbsp;Palestinians. Some people cheered&nbsp;and&nbsp;honked car horns while others headed to the homes of people killed in the fighting to show their respect.
"In light of the&nbsp;agreement of the&nbsp;Palestinian&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Israeli side, Egypt announces a ceasefire between the&nbsp;Palestinian&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Israeli sides has been reached," a text of the&nbsp;agreement seen by Reuters read.
"The two sides will abide by the ceasefire which will include an end to targeting civilians, house demolition, an end to targeting individuals immediately when the ceasefire goes into effect," it said.
Israel's national security adviser thanked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for Cairo's efforts, a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
"Quiet will be met with quiet&nbsp;and&nbsp;if&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;will be attacked or threatened, it shall continue to do what it must in order to defend itself," the statement said.
Islamic&nbsp;Jihad&nbsp;also confirmed the&nbsp;agreement. "We declare our acceptance of the Egyptian announcement&nbsp;and&nbsp;we will abide by it as long as the occupation (Israel) abides by it," the group's spokesman, Dawoud Shehab, said.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre welcomed the ceasefire on Saturday night, joining the&nbsp;Israeli government in acknowledging Sisi's&nbsp;and&nbsp;Egypt's mediation efforts,&nbsp;and&nbsp;thanking Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Even as the&nbsp;truce&nbsp;was being finalised, the two sides kept up firing, with air raid sirens sounding as far as Tel Aviv's suburbs&nbsp;and&nbsp;Israel's military announcing it had hit&nbsp;Islamic&nbsp;Jihad&nbsp;targets in response to rocket fire.
Though happy about news of the&nbsp;truce, some&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;residents, weary of repeated flare-ups, feared that another round of fighting would erupt before long. "We want the&nbsp;truce&nbsp;to be based on principles, not like in the past when after a calm (truce) people died," said resident Munir Marouf, 43.
Israel&nbsp;launched the latest round of airstrikes in the early hours of Tuesday, announcing that it was targeting&nbsp;Islamic&nbsp;Jihad&nbsp;commanders who had planned attacks in&nbsp;Israel.
In response, the Iranian-backed group fired more than 1,000 rockets, sending&nbsp;Israelis fleeing into bomb shelters.
During the five days of the campaign,&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;killed six senior&nbsp;Islamic&nbsp;Jihad&nbsp;commanders&nbsp;and&nbsp;destroyed a number of military installations.
At least 10 civilians, including women&nbsp;and&nbsp;children, were also killed in&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;during the fighting,&nbsp;and&nbsp;two people - an&nbsp;Israeli woman&nbsp;and&nbsp;a&nbsp;Palestinian&nbsp;labourer - were killed by&nbsp;Palestinian&nbsp;rocket fire in&nbsp;Israel.
Islamic&nbsp;Jihad&nbsp;spurns coexistence with&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;and&nbsp;preaches its destruction. Top ministers of&nbsp;Israel's religious nationalist government rule out any state sought by&nbsp;Palestinians in territories captured by&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;in the 1967 Middle East war.
(Additional reporting by Hatem Maher&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ahmed Tolba&nbsp;in Cairo, Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Writing by Maayan Lubell&nbsp;and&nbsp;James Mackenzie; Editing by Mark Potter, Jason Neely, Leslie Adler&nbsp;and&nbsp;Edmund Klamann)

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Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad agree Gaza truce