A Palestinian youth washes his family's horse in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday. Photo: AFP

Calm returned Tuesday after a two-day flare-up in and around Gaza as a truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad appeared to take hold after initial jitters.

The Israeli military reported no rocket fire from the territory during the morning and AFP correspondents in Gaza reported no Israeli strikes.

The Israeli military said it reopened roads near the Gaza border on Tuesday that it had closed when the fighting began and that train services would resume in the area.

Islamic Jihad announced the truce on Monday evening but later briefly backtracked, accusing Israel of breaching it.

A rocket or mortar round fired from Gaza hit open ground in Israel shortly before midnight Monday, a spokeswoman for Shaar Hanegev regional council said.

Islamic Jihad is the second largest militant group in Gaza after dominant Islamist movement Hamas.

As with other Gaza truces, there was no official Israeli confirmation and the army ordered the parents of some 65,000 pupils in communities near the Gaza border to keep their children home for a second day. 

Islamic Jihad fired more than 50 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel after the army killed one of its fighters on Sunday morning.

Many were intercepted by the Israeli air defenses and there were no reports of casualties. 

One rocket hit a playground but it was empty at the time.

Israeli fighter jets and helicopters responded with strikes on Islamic Jihad targets across Gaza, as well as in neighboring Syria.

Sunday's fighting was the most intense between Israel and Islamic Jihad since November, when Israeli air strikes killed senior commanders from the group. 

That three-day flare-up saw 35 Palestinians killed and more than 100 wounded, according to official figures.

AFP