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Hamas Accepts Cease-Fire After Massive Israeli Airstrikes

by Associated Press

   JERUSALEM --

   Gaza's militant Hamas rulers say they have accepted a cease-fire ending
   an Israeli onslaught on militant positions after a soldier was shot
   dead.

   Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum says it accepted the cease-fire brokered
   by Egyptian and United Nations officials early Saturday and that calm
   had been restored.

   The Israeli military destroyed more than 60 Hamas targets Friday,
   including three battalion headquarters. The massive airstrikes, which
   killed four Palestinians, came after a Palestinian sniper killed an
   Israeli soldier along the border.

   Hamas says three of the Palestinian casualties were its members.

   The second such cease-fire in a week after fierce exchanges seemed to
   once more pull the sides back from the brink of a full-fledged war.
   Israel and Hamas have fought three wars over the past decade.