Israel and Hamas agreed to a 72-hour cease fire on Gaza starting Tuesday. This agreement comes after Israel pulled out most of its forces from Gaza over the weekend. Israel, which was pressured lately by Western allies to stop targeting civilian casualties, said that it had accomplished the core mission of its attack, which is neutralizing tunnels that Hamas militants use for cross-border operations against Israelis. They estimated the number of destroyed tunnels to be around 30.
The cease fire was proposed by Egypt “out of concern for innocent lives and to prevent further bloodshed,” as mentioned in a statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
Officials in Gaza said that more than 1800 Palestinians have been killed in this conflict and more than 260 000 were displaced. The vast majority of victims are civilians.
Israel and Hamas are expected to negotiate over the next three days to work out a long term truce. Israel announced earlier that they are planning on ending the operation and pulling out of Gaza unilaterally even if no cease fire agreement was set, but would still strike if Hamas started firing rockets again.
The Moroccan Times.
