The Israel Defence Forces pulled its troops out of Gaza in observance of a 72-hour ceasefire, as negotiations began on a permanent truce.

The Israeli troops will maintain a defensive line on the border with Gaza, according to the IDF.

In the hour before the ceasefire went into effect at 8 a.m. Monday, nearly 20 rockets were fired at southern and central Israeli communities. One of the rockets scored a direct hit on a home in the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem. Several other rockets fell short of their targets, landing in Gaza. The Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted five of the rockets over southern and central Israel.

The IDF announced following the withdrawal of troops that it has destroyed all of the Hamas tunnels leading from Gaza into Israel, a total of 32 tunnels and their branches.

Israel was set on Tuesday to send a negotiating team to Cairo for talks on a permanent truce between Israel and the Palestinian factions in Gaza, according to reports.

Meanwhile, about 300 trucks carrying aid to Gaza, including medical supplies and food, were scheduled to enter Gaza at the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Tuesday.

In Gaza, medical teams gathered to search for bodies and survivors in areas of eastern Gaza that had been inaccessible due to airstrikes and shelling, the Palestinian Maan news agency reported.

On Monday President Barack Obama signed into law a bill allocating $225 million in additional funding for the Iron Dome.

The money is in addition to some $350 million for the system, which Israel’s government says has deflected more than 80 per cent of the rockets it has targeted since the July 8 launch of Israel’s operation against Hamas in Gaza.

“The United States has been clear since the start of this conflict that no country can abide rocket attacks against its civilians,” the White House said in a statement marking the signing.

“The United States supports Israel’s right to defend itself against such attacks,” it said. “We also continue to call on Israeli authorities to take all feasible precautions to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza and protect the civilian Palestinian population from the effects of attacks, and we continue to stress that all parties to the conflict must comply with international humanitarian law.”

The bill was rushed into law at the end of the summer session of Congress last week, with both chambers and both parties setting aside differences to advance Israel’s emergency request.