Israel and Hamas agree to three-day ceasefire
Israel and Hamas have agreed on a new 72-hour truce that will start this afternoon at 1pm (Singapore time).
This comes after Hamas did not observe a seven-hour humanitarian truce that was unilaterally proposed by Israel following the shelling of a UN school in Gaza.
The breakthrough was announced during talks in Cairo on Monday, only days after a similar three-day truce miserably collapsed when violence resumed within hours of it taking effect.
The United States welcomed the three-day cessation of hostilities, adding that the onus was on the Palestinian militia to maintain the truce.
Images of the bloodshed – which has cost the lives of more than 1,800 Palestinians and 64 Israeli soldiers in and near Gaza as well as three civilians in Israel – have sent tensions in the region soaring, earning the Jewish state strong criticism.
Source: AFP
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