Gaza City - Palestinian militant factions in the Gaza Strip, including Hamas, said Sunday they agreed to a ceasefire with Israel, but gave the Jewish state one week to withdraw its forces from the salient.

Their statement comes hours afer Israel started a unilateral ceasefire to end three-weeks of heavy fighting between the Israeli military and the militants.

It also came after militants had fired several rockets at Israel after the ceasefire went into effect at 00: OO GMT (2 am local time) Sunday. dpa