Middle East News

Hamas Accepts 24-Hour Truce As Israel Resumes Operations In Gaza

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A few hours after Israel Defense Forces resumed operations in Gaza, Hamas militants accepted the 24-hour “humanitarian truce,” which prompted the United Nations to once again try to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the Palestinian resistance group agreed to a cessation of attacks in observance of  Eid-Al Fitr, the Islamic holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, CNN reported.

“In response to the intervention by the United Nations and taking into account the conditions of our people and the upcoming Eid holiday, an accordance has been reached between Palestinian resistance groups to call a humanitarian calm for 24 hours,” Zuhri said in a statement.

The Israelis agreed to the ceasefire on the condition that its military could keep dismantling and destroying Hamas’ tunnels, according to senior Israeli officials. Then Israel re-launched its attacks in Gaza because Hamas continued their missile attacks on Israeli cities.

The Israeli Defense Force issued a statement stating that it had resumed its ground offensive because Hamas had rejected the agreement mediated by the U.N.

“Following Hamas’ incessant rocket fire throughout the humanitarian window, which was agreed upon for the welfare of the civilian population in Gaza, the IDF will now resume its aerial, naval and ground activity in the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement.

The war shows no sign of ending anytime soon as both sides maintain hard-line stances — Hamas wants to remove Israel’s military blockade and Israel insists on Hamas’ demilitarization — and they both have rejected various peace proposals from the international community, particularly the United States and Egypt, which are now meeting in Paris to discuss the Gaza crisis, The Washington Post reported.

At least 1,050 Palestinians  have been killed and 6,000 injured since hostilities broke out three weeks ago.

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