GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip ? Thousands of armed Palestinian police took up positions Friday in the northern Gaza Strip to prevent attacks on Israel, and Islamic militants said they were suspending rocket fire — major steps toward a possible truce after more than four years of bloody Mideast conflict.

In another sign that a cease-fire deal could be imminent, a Palestinian official said after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and the militant group Hamas met in Gaza that Egypt likely would host a high-level meeting between the two sides in Cairo soon to finalize an agreement.

The official refused to detail the expected deal but said on condition of anonymity that talks were moving in a “positive direction.” The Cairo talks, he said, would occur after the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which ends Sunday.

Abbas hopes to co-opt the militants into halting violence instead of cracking down on them as Israel demands. A lull in four years of fighting could lead to a renewal of long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Similar negotiations have failed in the past, and Israel is balking at a key demand by the militants: a guarantee to halt military operations, including arrest raids and targeted killings of wanted men. Israel’s deputy defense minister, Zeev Boim, said Friday that Israel would respond with “great force” to renewed rocket fire.

A 17-year-old Israeli girl wounded in a rocket attack last week died Friday of her injuries.

Palestinian police officers get instructions from their commanding officer shortly before their deployment in northern Gaza Strip. Hundreds of armed Palestinian police were deployed Friday to prevent rocket fire on Israeli communities, raising hopes that the two sides have found a way to end more than four years of bloody conflict and resume peace talks.

However, militants have not fired rockets since Wednesday, and Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said the group was suspending such attacks.

“One can’t be negotiating and firing rockets at the same time. It just doesn’t work,” he said.

In his meetings with Hamas and other groups, Abbas also is trying to forge agreement on a joint political platform that would give him a stronger mandate in future negotiations with Israel. The document being considered calls for establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, al-Masri said.

Hamas is pledged to Israel’s destruction and has carried out many suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis. But in the past it has indicated a willingness to consider long-term truces.