New Gaza-Israel ceasefire to begin on Tuesday
August 4, 2014, 11:58 pm

Palestinians walk in front of buildings destroyed by Israeli military forces in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya [Xinhua]

The renewed ceasefire pledge comes after medical sources said that at least 53 people, including a large number of children, were killed on Monday.

Both Hamas and Israeli officials have confirmed the ceasefire followed by talks in Cairo. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged that both sides said they would observe the ceasefire.

Members of Hamas and another faction, Islamic Jihad, are currently in Cairo.

The announcement also comes after global criticism – including from the UN and US – of Israeli tactics began to mount.

At least 1980 Palestinians have been killed and more than 10,000 injured.

Israel says 63 soldiers and four civilians have been killed.

On Monday, a Palestinian-Israeli man in Jerusalem used a heavy construction machine to kill an ultra-Orthodox Jew, and overturned a bus before being killed by security forces.

On the same day, an unknown armed man shot and wounded an Israeli soldier at a bus stop.

On Friday, a 72-hour ceasefire collapsed with both sides blaming each other ahead of scheduled talks between the Israelis, Hamas, Fatah from the West Bank, the UN and US negotiators in Cairo.

Despite the collapse of the ceasefire, Egypt has continued to urge both Hamas and Israel to abide by the humanitarian considerations in the agreement and end hostilities to give negotiations a chance.

Reports from Israel indicate that the military there had started to wind down its operations to destroy tunnels used by Hamas fighters to infiltrate its territory.

Troops were moved out of the Gaza Strip early Sunday to take defensive positions along the border with Israel.

Source: Agencies