Fresh Hamas-Israel ceasefire?

Israeli and Hamas sources indicated late on Sunday that a fresh Egypt-mediated ceasefire was imminent. The previous truce ended on Friday with renewed violence.

Israeli officials told the news agencies AFP and Reuters that the country had "accepted" Egypt's proposal for a ceasefire. A Palestinian source told news agencies that the initiative foresaw both sides halting fire just after midnight.

Earlier on Sunday in Cairo, an official close to a Palestinian negotiating delegation said that Egypt had received "simultaneous consensus" from both sides.

Another official said Israel's negotiating team, which quit talks during Friday's resumption of fighting, would return to Cairo once the latest truce took hold.

Egypt calls for midnight start

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry called on both sides to commit to a 72-hour ceasefire effective one minute after midnight Monday Cairo time (21:01 UTC Sunday).

The aim was to "work to reach a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire," the Foreign Ministry announced.

Qais Abdelkarim, a member of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo, was quoted by Associated Press as saying that indirect talks with the Israelis would begin on Monday morning.

Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that "Israel will not negotiate under fire." He warned of a protracted military campaign in the Gaza Strip if rocket salvoes continued.

Rockets still falling

On Sunday, rocket fire continued throughout the day, according to the Israeli military, with at least 24 projectiles fired by suspected militants. Israel responded with some 35 airstrikes, the military announced.

Gaza medics said on Sunday that at least 5 people, including a 14-year-old boy and a woman, were killed in Israel's latest airstrikes and shelling. Israel said it had closed its Kerem Shalom crossing used to truck supplies into the southern Gaza Strip after the entry point was struck twice by rocket fire.

Since July 8, more than 1,900 Palestinians have been killed and thousands of homes destroyed in the coastal enclave. Sixty-four Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat, and three civilians within the country died as a result of rockets fired from Gaza.

Egypt steps in

Egypt's mediation is aimed at reaching a longer-term truce between Israel and Hamas, which took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 in defiance of the West Bank-based Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas is demanding an end to an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has been in place in varying forms for seven years. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent arms smuggling, often via tunnels.

In the West Bank, Palestinian health officials said an 11-year-old boy was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Sunday in a refugee camp near the city of Hebron after a military vehicle was hit by stones.

The current month-long Gaza war escalated after the abduction and killing of three Israeli teens in June and then the murder of a Palestinian youth in early July.

ipj/mkg (AFP, dpa, Reuters, AP)