At a ceremony inducting new Gaza security recruits, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that the territory’s armed groups have, more or less, agreed not to fire any more rockets into Israel. He said all militias would cease “all actions that give others an excuse to attack us.”

However, other groups denied there was a deal. Islamic Jihad said it was just going along with what others wished but did not back the call from Abbas, who leads the Fatah party. Hamas, which took power this year in democratic elections, made its restraint conditional on Israel holding off from attacks on the territory, which are aimed at groups sworn to destroy Israel. International donors cut off aid to Gaza because they list Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Many ordinary Gazans are hopeful of the success of negotiations between the main parliamentary factions as they try to create a unity government.

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