JERUSALEM, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to stop airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for three hours during the visit of Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil to the coastal enclave, Israeli media reported Friday morning.
Quoting unnamed government sources, the report said the brief halt to airstrikes would be in effect on condition that no rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel.
In a phone interview with Xinhua, a spokesman of the Israeli Prime Minister's Office declined to comment on the report.
According to media reports, Qandil entered the embattled Gaza Strip Friday morning for a short stay. Soon after his entry, at least 10 rockets were fired at Israel's Eshkol region, with no injuries reported.
Qandil's visit is reportedly aimed at brokering a ceasefire as the conflict between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza intensified Thursday, with the Israeli military starting to call up 30,000 reservists for a possible ground invasion.
Over the past few days, over 300 rockets were fired at Israeli communities, the Israeli military said in a statement. One rocket hit off the shore south of Tel Aviv Thursday evening, in the first such attack against Israel's largest city since the 1991 Gulf War.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stepped up its aerial and maritime strikes on targets in the coastal territory following the rocket attack on Tel Aviv. In the statement, the military said that during overnight attacks the IDF targeted approximately 150 medium-range rocket launching sites as well as ammunition storage facilities across the Gaza Strip.
"As a result of the continuous IDF targeting rocket launching capabilities, rocket fire at Israel overnight was significantly decreased, with only a few hits landing in open areas," the statement said.
Since the start of Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense against Hamas Wednesday, the Israeli Air Force has targeted over 450 sites in the Gaza Strip, it added.
