Israel's caretaker prime minister took a gamble with his preemptive strike against Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza, less than three months before he is to compete in general elections to retain his job.

Yair Lapid had counted on Gaza's militant Hamas rulers to stay out of the fight, thus enabling Israel to weaken Hamas' smaller sister group while avoiding a full-blown escalation. At the same time, he may also have gained political ground ahead of the polls.

Shell-shocked Gazans on Monday sifted through the rubble of three days of deadly conflict between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants as a truce held and life slowly returned to normal with power restored.

The sole power plant in the blockaded enclave "started working to generate electricity" after a two-day shutdown, distributor spokesman Mohammed Thabet told AFP, hours after fuel trucks for the plant entered Gaza.

Fuel trucks entered Gaza as an Egypt-brokered truce between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants held Monday, raising hopes that the intense conflict that left dozens of Palestinians dead has ended.

An AFP journalist at the goods crossing to southern Gaza saw trucks loaded with fuel enter the enclave, ending a severe shortage which prompted the only power station there to shut down Saturday.

A cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants took effect late Sunday in a bid to end nearly three days of violence that killed dozens of Palestinians and disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis.

Gaza City, Palestinian T

Israel hit Gaza with air strikes on Saturday and a Palestinian militant group retaliated with a barrage of rocket fire, in the territory's worst escalation of violence since a war last year.

The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad group said it fired more than 100 rockets at Israel on Friday, as an "initial response" to deadly Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. 

A senior militant from Islamic Jihad was among more than 15 people killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip Friday, prompting the militant group to warn Israel has made a "declaration of war."

Iran on Friday called on Saudi Arabia to release one of its nationals arrested during the hajj pilgrimage, as the two regional rivals engage in talks to mend severed relations.

The Islamic republic revealed the arrest in a foreign ministry statement about a phone call between Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein.

Ways to halt the war in Ukraine and the possible launch of a new conflict in Syria are expected to dominate talks on Friday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Turkish leader was riding high from the diplomatic success of helping orchestrate the resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments across the Black Sea when he took most of his top ministers to Sochi for his second talks with Putin in 17 days.