Israel has agreed to an Egyptian brokered truce with the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. A senior Hamas official said the ceasefire would last six months. The truce aims at halting rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. In return, Israel is to stop raids in the territory. Earlier, Israel said it was willing to give the truce a chance but that it was also readying troops for a possible ground offensive should the agreement fail. The cease-fire is meant to end Palestinian rocket barrages and Israeli reprisals in Gaza that have killed more than 400 Palestinians – many of them civilians – and seven Israelis in fighting since the Islamic Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip a year ago. Halting all violence is the first step of the deal. If it holds, succeeding stages will see Israel easing its blockade on Gaza and negotiations will resume on the release of an Israeli soldier held for two years by Hamas-linked forces and on opening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
ISRAEL TRUCE WITH HAMAS
Israel has agreed to an Egyptian brokered truce with the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. A senior Hamas official said the ceasefire would last six months.
