GAZA, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Hamas movement announced that a truce with Israel on halting escalation in the Gaza Strip started from Thursday night, a Hamas source told Xinhua.

The agreement, brokered by Egypt and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov, will end another round of military confrontation between Israel and Hamas, the source said.

"A calm-for-calm deal has been brokered by Egypt and by the UN Special envoy on condition that the Israeli occupation should respect the agreement," the Hamas source said on condition of anonymity.

"The Palestinian resistance has the right to respond to any Israeli violation," the source added. Enditem