Israel, Hamas begin ceasefire
July 17, 2014
Israel and the Islamist militant group Hamas began observing a five-hour ceasefire as scheduled at 10 a.m. local time (700 UTC) on Thursday.
Violence continued in the lead-up to the ceasefire, but there were no immediate reports of violations after it came into force.
"We are holding our fire until 3:00 p.m. today in order to enable a humanitarian window in Gaza. If Hamas fires, we will respond with force," Israel's army said in a statement posted on its Twitter account on Thursday.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri confirmed that Palestinian militants were also complying with the agreement.
"All the factions including Hamas are implementing what they announced, a stop to the operations of the resistance," he told the AFP news agency. "We and all factions will follow and observe the occupation's implementation of this temporary truce," he said.
The Reuters news agency reported that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were using the short pause in the fighting to withdraw money from banks, where their salaries are deposited directly, and to shop for groceries.
United Nations request
Both sides had announced on Wednesday that they had agreed to comply with a request from the United Nations to hold their fire for a period of five hours so that much-needed supplies could be delivered to civilians in the Gaza Strip.
More than 220 Palestinians have been killed in 10 days of air strikes on the Gaza Strip, which Israel says are aimed at preventing rocket attacks on the Jewish state. One Israeli has been killed and a number of others have been injured in rocket attacks since the latest violence broke out.
Prior to the ceasefire taking effect, the Israeli army said it had prevented an attempted attack by more than a dozen militants who had entered the country through a tunnel from Gaza. The military said at least one was killed when Israeli aircraft bombed the group of militants.
A previous truce earlier in the week quickly unraveled after Hamas complained that it had not been part of the negotiations that led Israel to agree to hold its fire.
pfd/tj (Reuters, AFP, AP)