Israel yesterday said it had agreed on a truce with Hamas to end 10 days of violence in Gaza, although the reported deal was denied by the Islamist movement.
News of a fresh attempt to end the worst bloodshed in the Gaza Strip in five years came during a five-hour humanitarian truce, under which both Israel and Hamas militants had agreed to hold their fire.
As relative calm returned to the skies over Gaza for the first time since Tuesday last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was due to meet with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, as Cairo pushed regional efforts to broker a new ceasefire deal. An earlier Egyptian attempt to end hostilities collapsed on Tuesday, with Hamas claiming it had not been included in the negotiations.
Photo: Reuters
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Israeli official said the Jewish state and Hamas “have agreed on a ceasefire” that would begin at 3am GMT today.
However, Hamas shot down the report.
“The news about a ceasefire is incorrect. There are continuing efforts, but no agreement until now,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in Gaza.
Photo: AFP
Despite the diplomacy, there seemed little appetite from either side to end their confrontation, which has so far claimed the lives of 231 people in Gaza and one person in Israel.
During the five-hour humanitarian lull, which had been requested by the UN, militants in Gaza fired three mortar shells at southern Israel. And shortly after it ended at 12pm GMT, another Gaza rocket crashed near the southern port city of Ashkelon, the army said.
In a separate incident, an Israeli soldier was lightly injured by an explosion near the fence, with the army firing back across the border, the army said.
The two sides had agreed to temporarily suspend hostilities, with a senior UN official saying the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza would be opened to allow in medical aid. It also gave Gazans a chance to leave their homes and stock up on supplies, or pick up belongings from homes which they had evacuated.
In Gaza City, the streets immediately filled with honking cars and traffic jams, and outside banks, hundreds of people massed by ATMs to withdraw money to buy supplies.
“It’s not enough. People need to go out and get supplies and to get their belongings. It should have been from 7am until dusk,” Mohamed Nasr said.
“We’ve been stuck in our houses during this war, because of the violence. It’s like living under curfew,” he said.
Just moments before the humanitarian truce began at 7am GMT, Israeli tank fire killed three people in southern Gaza, Palestinian medics said.
The Israeli army also foiled a “major terror attack” by a group of 13 militants who managed to enter southern Israel by tunnel and were seen heading toward Sufa kibbutz near the fence, Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told reporters.
They were targeted in an air strike, which killed one and sent the others fleeing back into the tunnel, he said.
The raid was claimed by Hamas, which said its militants had carried out a successful “mission” into Israel.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS