- Title: ISRAEL: Israeli troops deployed near Gaza border as ceasefire set to expire
- Date: 8th August 2014
- Summary: ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER, ISRAEL (AUGUST 8, 2014) (REUTERS) SUNRISE VARIOUS OF ISRAELI SOLDIERS WALKING TOWARDS BORDER DURING SUNRISE VARIOUS OF SOLDIER WITH BINOCULARS LOOKING TOWARD BORDER VARIOUS OF TANKS NEAR BORDER ROTATING TURRET GAZA AS SEEN IN DISTANCE / TANK TANKS ON BORDER WITH GAZA IN BACKGROUND
- Embargoed: 23rd August 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA3K6DR2LN0TDEL3101XKK1HZ1B
- Story Text: Israeli troops were deployed near the Israel-Gaza border on Friday morning (August 8), as an Egyptian mediated 72-hour ceasefire was set to expire.
Mediators worked against the clock on Thursday (August 8), to extend a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, as the three-day ceasefire entered its final hours.
Israel said it was ready to agree to an extension as Egyptian go-betweens pursued talks with Israeli and Palestinian delegates in Cairo on ending a war that has devastated the Hamas-controlled enclave.
Palestinians want an Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza lifted and prisoners held by Israel to be freed.
Hamas's armed wing said it was ready to resume fighting unless Palestinian demands were met, and Israel said it would respond forcefully if attacked.
"Indirect talks are ongoing and we still have today to secure this," an Egyptian official said when asked whether the truce was likely to go beyond Friday's 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) deadline.
"Egypt's aims are to stabilise and extend the truce with the agreement of both sides and to begin negotiations towards a permanent agreement to cease fire and ease border restrictions," they added.
The Palestinian delegation met Egyptian intelligence officials late on Thursday.
Israeli officials said Israel's delegates would return to Cairo in the evening having briefly returned home to confer with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
After a month of bitter battles, the two sides are still not talking face to face.
Gaza officials say the war has killed 1,875 Palestinians, most of them civilians.
Hamas said on Thursday it had executed an unspecified number of Palestinians as Israeli spies.
Israel says 64 of its soldiers and three civilians have died in the fighting that began on July 8, after a surge in Palestinian rocket salvoes into Israel. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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