Israel agreed on terms for a troop pullback from the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem after Palestinian groups confirmed that they will halt attacks on Israelis for three months. The progress in negotiations - which sources said included a commitment by Israel to halt targeted killings of Palestinian activists - came despite continued violence. A raid by Israeli commandos left four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier dead in the Gaza Strip. "We are pleased with the progress we have seen," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Washington. The "road map" peace plan, the latest bid to end the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, has been on shaky ground because of escalating violence ever since President Bush launched it on June 4. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was expected in the region Saturday for talks with the Palestinian and Israeli prime ministers about the plan, which outlines steps toward ending violence and establishing a Palestinian state by 2005. The leaders of the two Islamic groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, had accepted a temporary cease-fire negotiated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin said his group has informed Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas of its views, but stopped short of declaring acceptance. In exchange, the Palestinian groups asked Israel to suspend targeted killings of Palestinian resistance activist and release prisoners. But these demands were not conditions for beginning the truce. "I believe that it will be a good document," said Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi. "It will serve the interest of the Palestinian people and will preserve Palestinian unity and the option of resistance." **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinians carry from rubble the body of a Palestinian killed after the Israeli army destroyed his family house at Mughraqa village in the central Gaza Strip June 27, 2003. Witnesses said Israeli troops swept into the village of Mughraqa before dawn and surrounded the family home of Hamas member Adnan al-Ghul, precipitating a clash. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)