The radical Islamic Jihad movement said on Thursday that an Egyptian-brokered truce had gone into effect to halt a spiraling confrontation with the Israeli enemy.

The radical Islamic Jihad movement said on Thursday that an Egyptian-brokered truce had gone into effect to halt a spiraling confrontation with the Israeli enemy.

"An Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT)," Islamic Jihad spokesman Daud Shihab told AFP.

"The last thing the Islamic Jihad and Hamas want now is an escalation and deterioration," he told AFP.