GAZA CITY
A 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire has already begun in the Gaza Strip upon an Egyptian proposal to give the Palestinians and the Israelis the chance to hammer out a final arrangement and an end to the Israeli war on Gaza.
The ceasefire started at 8:00am local time (0500 GMT) and it is expected to last for three days, amid hopes that the fighting reprieve between the Palestinians and the Israelis would hold this time.
Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, fired a barrage of rockets at central and southern Israel a few minutes before the ceasefire went into effect, sending the Israeli army sounding rocket warning sirens in these areas.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Anadolu Agency late on Monday that his movement had told Egyptian authorities that it had approved the ceasefire proposal.
Hamas leader Ezzat al-Rashq said that Hamas agreed to the ceasefire and would engage in indirect talks with Israel on the terms of a truce based on a list of conditions set by the Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza.
Israel agreed to the ceasefire a short time earlier. Some unnamed sources from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel Radio late on Monday that the ceasefire was approved during a meeting of the country's security cabinet.
An Israeli delegation is due to head to Cairo within the next few hours to discuss a durable settlement with Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movements.
Egypt proposed the ceasefire late on Monday following two days of meetings with a Palestinian delegation that attended to Cairo on Saturday to discuss an end to Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Almost 28 days of Israeli attacks against the Gaza Strip had left at least 1867 people dead and more than 9470 others injured.
www.aa.com.tr/en
