Hopes of a definitive end to the four-week conflict in Gaza were rising on Monday night as Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed terms for a 72-hour ceasefire.
The unilateral ceasefire is due to begin at 8am on Tuesday morning, clearing the way for further discussions about ending the war.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that it had agreed to the ceasefire. "We agree to begin implementing the Egyptian initiative. If the ceasefire is upheld there will be no need for any presence of [Israeli] forces in the Gaza Strip."
A delegation of Palestinian officials from various factions, including Hamas, has been negotiating with Egypt in recent days. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group had accepted the plan.
Egyptian officials said they were hopeful a delegation would arrive on Tuesday.
On Monday night a delegation from Hamas and PIJ in Gaza were reported to be on their way to Cairo.
Both Hamas and the Israeli government will have to convince sceptical publics that the war has brought them some kind of victory.
One scenario would simply involve a series of unilateral ceasefires that would at least pause the conflict long enough to allow significant relief to a population suffering an acute humanitarian crisis within Gaza and permit diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a more durable peace.
A final deal could see Egypt loosen restrictions on passage through its border into the Gaza Strip, providing a major boost to the local economy and to the popularity of Hamas.
During a visit to the army's southern command on Monday, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) was concluding its action to destroy Hamas tunnels but its operation would end "only when quiet and security are restored to the citizens of Israel for a lengthy period".
Israel has previously said that it will not agree to ceasefires but will declare an end to the conflict when it believes the right moment has come. Israel has repeatedly said that its goal is to disarm Hamas.
However, public statements by officials that the Israeli military has achieved at least some of its objectives in the war and has inflicted significant damage on Hamas have been interpreted by some analysts as preparing public opinion for a declaration that the conflict is over.
The Israeli military said it had resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip on Monday, ending a self-declared unilateral ceasefire that had been in effect for much of the day.
Israel had declared a seven-hour "humanitarian window" in Gaza amid international outrage at the third deadly attack on a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinians and mounting pressure for the bloodshed to end.
The unilateral ceasefire was the eighth temporary pause in fighting, nearly all of which have broken down amid mutual accusations of violations.
It slowed violence, though two Israeli missiles hit a house in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza around the time it started. The strike killed an eight-year-old girl and wounded 29 people, medics said. At least 18 Gazans were killed on Monday, Palestinian officials said, most before the earlier ceasefire came into force. Dozens of bodies were also retrieved from ruins.
An Israeli strike killed a commander in the Islamic Jihad group, a close ally of Hamas, the group said.
The British Foreign Office said it was "urgently investigating" claims that a British aid worker had been killed in the Gaza town of Rafah, which has seen some of the heaviest fighting of recent days.
Ministry of health officials in Gaza said 1865 Palestinians had been killed and 9536 wounded in the war so far. Israeli officials have said they believe nearly 50% of casualties are combatants. The UN and local NGOs estimated that between two thirds and four fifths are civilians.
The violence in Gaza appeared to be spilling over with Jerusalem the scene of what police said were two suspected terrorist attacks, amid clashes between Palestinian youths protesting over the Gaza conflict and Israeli security forces.
A bus was rammed by an industrial digger in an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood close to the city's main thoroughfare. The driver, reported to be a Palestinian from east Jerusalem, was shot dead by police who unleashed repeated rounds of gunfire.
A 25-year-old Israeli man died after being hit by the vehicle before it ploughed into the bus, overturning it. Five people were lightly injured.
Less than three hours later, an Israeli soldier was shot in the stomach in a tunnel near the main campus of Hebrew University. "Multiple shots were fired. One man was hit in the stomach and rushed to the hospital in serious condition," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Police were searching for the assailant.
Police detained 12 Palestinians overnight who it said were involved in "rioting" near the Old City. Protests in east Jerusalem and the West Bank over the war in Gaza in recent weeks have led to at least 10 Palestinians being killed by Israeli security forces.
The Israeli military reported that 53 rockets had been fired at Israel on Monday. There were no reports of injuries.
The Israeli ceasefire in Gaza had exempted the area around the southern town of Rafah, where the UN school was struck on Sunday, and fighting continued there. Troops were working on destroying a cross-border tunnel in the area.
Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner said the IDF was close to completing its mission to destroy the network of tunnels leading into Israel. "We've caused substantial damage to this network to an extent where we've basically taken this huge threat and made it minimal," he said.
Netanyahu said Israel had "no intention of attacking the residents of Gaza" during a visit to the military's southern command headquarters, according to a statement released by the government press office.
Netanyahu said the Gaza campaign was continuing. "What is about to conclude is the IDF action to deal with the tunnels but this operation will end only when quiet and security are restored to the citizens of Israel for a lengthy period," he said.
"We struck a very severe blow at Hamas and the other terrorist organisations. We have no intention of attacking the residents of Gaza. In practice, it is Hamas that is attacking them and denying them humanitarian aid. I think that the international community needs to strongly condemn Hamas and also demand, just as we are demanding, that the rehabilitation of Gaza be linked to its demilitarisation."
Egypt, a traditional broker in Hamas-Israeli conflicts, had proposed last month, soon after the latest conflict erupted, an unconditional ceasefire followed by talks between the two sides.
Israel accepted that plan but Hamas rejected it, accusing Cairo of bypassing the Palestinian movement.
Last week Cairo invited the two sides again to send their delegations for talks to work on a durable, long-term ceasefire.
But Israel refused to send its negotiators, accusing Hamas of breaching a UN-backed 72-hour humanitarian truce that began on Friday but collapsed within hours.
Hamas on Monday accused Israel of breaching that truce and of trying to scuttle the Cairo talks.
"The Israeli side is trying to foil the meeting in Cairo by violating the [72-hour] truce," said Ezzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official in the Palestinian delegation.
The Palestinian demands agreed on Sunday include "a ceasefire; Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza; the end of the siege of Gaza and opening its border crossings".
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