Israel and the Palestinians have agreed a new 72-hour truce starting on Tuesday, Egypt said, after increasingly vocal world demands for a cease-fire in the bloody Gaza conflict. The apparent breakthrough came during talks in Cairo only days after a similar three-day truce collapsed in a deadly wave of violence within hours starting on Friday.
Images of the bloodshed, which has cost more than 1,800 Palestinian lives and 67 in Israel, have sent tensions in the region soaring, earning the Jewish state strong criticism. "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. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be no end without first securing a long-term period of calm for his people. "The campaign in Gaza is continuing," he said at the end of a seven-hour humanitarian lull that saw violence subside. "This operation will only end when quiet and security is established for the citizens of Israel for a prolonged period."
Violence even hit Jerusalem, with police saying they had foiled a "terror attack" when a Palestinian rammed an earthmover into a bus, killing one before being shot dead himself. But after the unilateral Israeli truce ended on Monday, Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo, including Hamas, were already working on another more durable cease-fire. A senior Egyptian official said both the Israeli and Palestinian sides had accepted an Egyptian plan for a new 72-hour truce starting on Tuesday morning. "Egypt's contacts with relevant parties have achieved a commitment for a 72-hour truce in Gaza starting from 0500 GMT tomorrow morning, and an agreement for the rest of the relevant delegations to come to Cairo to conduct further negotiations," the official told AFP.
Egypt said that Israel had privately committed to the plan but had yet to make its own public announcement and send negotiators to Cairo. Azzam al-Ahmed, head of the Palestinian delegation, confirmed his side accepted the new truce. On the ground in Gaza, Israeli forces had largely observed a unilateral seven-hour truce from 0700 GMT. The humanitarian window got off to a shaky start with an air strike levelling a house in a beachfront refugee camp in Gaza City, killing three people, among them a nine-year-old girl.
"There is no truce. How could there be a truce," raged Ayman Mahmud, who lives in the neighbourhood. "They are liars! They don't even respect their own commitments!" Hamas did not observe the truce, firing 42 rockets over the border during the pause, 24 of which hit Israel and another one which was shot down, the army said.
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