The number of Palestinians killed is floating around 1060 in 19 days of fighting and more than 6,000 were wounded while, on the Israeli side, 43 soldiers and two civilians have been killed.
The BBC reported that Hamas had accepted a 24-hour ceasefire after it initially rejected the offer “saying it would only halt rocket attacks once Israeli troops left Gaza and the displaced were allowed to return home.”
In fact, “right after that the Israeli raids resumed, Hamas said it had decided to agree to a humanitarian truce,” the aforementioned source added.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said then that “As a preparation for the end of Ramadan and in response to the UN mediation and also regarding our people’s living circumstances, we have agreed with all Palestinian factions to give a 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire starting from 14:00 on Sunday.”
But the BBC has reported that “In a more explicit response to the Hamas ceasefire, an Israeli official told the BBC Israel did not accept it.”
“Israel launched its military offensive with the declared objective of stopping Hamas firing rockets from Gaza into Israel,” the Israeli official was reported by the BBC to say.
The same source added that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas had already violated its own ceasefire and “Israel will do what it must do to defend its people”.
It remains to be seen if the UN brokered ceasefire will be respected by Israel or not, especially after Netanyahu’s statement.
The Moroccan Times.
