JERUSALEM: Israel and Hamas said they have agreed a new 72-hour truce starting on Tuesday, after increasingly vocal international demands for a ceasefire in the bloody 29-day-old Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The breakthrough came during talks in Cairo on Monday, only days after a similar three-day truce collapsed in a deadly wave of violence within hours of starting on Friday.
The United States welcomed the three-day cessation of hostilities, adding that the onus was on Hamas to maintain the truce.
“This is a real opportunity. We strongly support the initiative,” Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken told CNN.
Images of the bloodshed — which has cost the lives of more than 1,800 Palestinians and 64 Israeli soldiers in and near Gaza — have sent tensions in the region.
“How many more deaths will it take to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza?” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius asked, as Britain said it was reviewing licences to sell arms to Israel.
Israel and Hamas, separately confirmed that they would abide by the new 72-hour ceasefire.
“Israel will be honouring the ceasefire from tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:00am,” an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.
“Hamas informed Cairo a few minutes ago of their approval of the truce for 72 hours from tomorrow,” a spokesman for the group, Sami Abu Zuhri, said.
A Palestinian delegation, including representatives of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian Authority, was already in Cairo for talks on the terms of an agreement between Israel and Gaza, set to take place during the three-day truce.
Abu Zuhri later said a delegation of Hamas members from Gaza would be leaving for Cairo on Tuesday to join movement leaders from Egypt and Qatar.
The Israeli official confirmed that a delegation would be arriving in Egypt to participate in the talks.
Mussa Abu Marzuk, a top figure in the Hamas politburo, said Monday that the new ceasefire proposal included an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli media quoted officials saying that if the truce would be upheld by Hamas, there would be no need for further military presence in Gaza.
Prolonged quiet
The ceasefire came after Israeli forces had largely observed a unilateral seven-hour pause in their offensive on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated following the end of the unilateral lull there would be no end to the Gaza military operation without first ensuring “quiet and security” in Israel “for a prolonged period. “
The Israeli military later said it still has many missions to carry out in Gaza despite destroying all of the known tunnels militants dug to attack its territory.
In the hours leading to the begin of the Tuesday ceasefire Israeli forces were not carrying out major operations in Gaza, an AFP correspondent said, while a military spokeswoman said two rockets from Gaza were intercepted above a southern city.
Truce deal follows pressure
The truce announcement came after international outrage grew over an Israeli strike near a UN school on Sunday that killed 10 people, denounced by the UN as “a moral outrage and a criminal act”, with the United States saying it was “appalled”.
With UN figures indicating most of the 1,867 people killed in Gaza so far were civilians, the world has stepped up its demands for an end to the bloodshed.
In Paris, France's top diplomat, an increasingly vocal critic of the war, demanded the world to impose a political solution to end “the carnage”.
Israel said it had targeted three militants near the school and added it was investigating the strike.
Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov also added his voice to growing calls for an agreement to end the violence, his ministry said Monday.
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