Jerusalem ? In a boost to U.S.-backed peace efforts, Israel agreed on terms for troop pullbacks from the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem after Palestinian militants confirmed Friday that they would halt attacks on Israelis for three months.

The progress in negotiations — which sources said included a commitment by Israel to halt targeted killings of militants — 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 today 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.

Her visit would coincide with an expected formal announcement by militant groups Sunday that they are ending attacks. The announcement would be a turning point in the 33 months of violence although Israel has been skeptical of the truce idea, and it remains to be seen whether all militants will comply.

Gaza militants said Friday that leaders of the two Islamic militant groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, had accepted a temporary cease-fire negotiated with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, providing first confirmation by the militants that such a deal has been reached.

A Palestinian woman, right, talks with an Israeli soldier at the Hawara Israeli army checkpoint on the outskirts of the northern West Bank town of Nablus. Some progress was made Friday in the Mideast peace process, with militants agreeing to a cease-fire.