Islamic Jihad announces Egypt-mediated Gaza ceasefire

"A comprehensive ceasefire agreement was reached which came into force immediately in exchange for a halt to the Israeli aggression," Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawoud Shihab told AFP.

There was no immediate confirmation from Israel.

Earlier, the Israeli army had accused the Syrian regime of ordering Iranian-backed Palestinian militants in Gaza to fire dozens of rockets into southern Israel.

"The rockets that were launched against Israel... we know that the orders, incentives were given from Damascus with the clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said, referring to the Guards' foreign operations unit.

The barrage of rockets was launched late on Friday after Israeli forces killed five Palestinians during demonstrations earlier in the day.

Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza, hailed the rocket fire in a statement as a response to "Israeli aggressions", stopping short however of directly claiming responsibility for the launches.

Israeli fighter jets, helicopters and drones struck "approximately 80 Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip" in response to the rocket fire, Israel's army said.

In Gaza City, a four-storey building was completely destroyed in a strike, AFP correspondents reported.

The Israeli army said it was a major headquarters of Hamas.

Israel said it holds Hamas responsible for the rocket fire even though it was carried out by the Islamic Jihad group.

At least 213 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since border protests began, according to figures collated by AFP.

The majority have been killed by snipers during protests, while smaller numbers have been killed by airstrikes or tank fire.

The protesters are calling to be allowed to return to lands their families fled or were expelled from in the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's creation.

They are also protesting over Israel's crippling blockade.

In 2007, Israel imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the strip, effectively turning the coastal enclave into an open-air prison, where basic necessities such as food, fuel and medicines are severely controlled.

Critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment of the coastal enclave's two million residents. The UN says Gaza will be uninhabitable by 2020, but human rights organisations say Gaza has reached inhabitability now.