- Title: ISRAEL: Israeli troops deployed near Gaza border
- Date: 11th August 2014
- Summary: ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER, ISRAEL (AUGUST 11, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TANKS POSITIONED NEAR BORDER ARMOURED PERSONNEL VEHICLES TRUCK / MILITARY TENT VARIOUS OF ARMOURED PERSONNEL VEHICLES SOLDIERS READING NEWSPAPERS VARIOUS OF SOLDIER DOING CROSSWORDS IN NEWSPAPERS VARIOUS OF SOLDIER PUTTING FUEL IN GENERATOR TANK POSITIONED NEAR GAZA BORDER TENT SOLDIER NEAR TANK
- Embargoed: 26th August 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA4CFOO5YXORZZQMF16NDJ9RY06
- Story Text: Israel and the Palestinians held their fire early on Monday (August 11) at the start of a new 72-hour ceasefire proposed by Egypt that took effect at 2100 GMT.
Israeli tanks, armoured personnel vehicles and soldiers were deployed near Gaza border in the morning.
There were no immediate reports of breaches of the ceasefire although Hamas claimed it fired rockets as far as the Tel Aviv area for the first time since a previous truce expired on Friday (August 8), just minutes before the new truce took hold.
The Israeli military had no comment but Israeli media said a rocket exploded in an open area in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and at least two other rockets were intercepted in a town just south of that region.
A senior Israeli government official said on Sunday (August 10) Israeli negotiators would return to Cairo to resume indirect talks with the Palestinians, if the truce held, also confirming the Jewish state had accepted Egypt's proposal for the new truce.
The Israeli team had flown home on Friday when the sides failed to reach a deal to prolong a previous three-day truce, and hostilities in the month-old conflict resumed.
A Hamas official said Palestinian factions had accepted Egypt's call and that the Cairo talks would continue. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that these new negotiations would be "the last chance" for a deal.
Hamas has demanded an end to Israeli and Egyptian blockades of the coastal territory and the opening of a Gaza seaport - a project Israel says should be dealt with only in any future talks on a permanent peace deal with the Palestinians.
Since the previous ceasefire expired, Palestinian rocket and mortar salvoes have focused on Israeli towns and communities near the Gaza frontier in what seemed a strategy of sapping morale without triggering another ground invasion of tiny Gaza.
A month of war has killed 1,910 Palestinians and 67 Israelis while devastating wide tracts of densely populated Gaza.
Gaza hospital officials say the Palestinian death toll has been mainly civilian since the July 8 launch of Israel's military campaign to quell Gaza rocket fire.
Israel has lost 64 soldiers and three civilians, while heavy losses among civilians and the destruction of thousands of homes in Gaza have drawn international condemnation.
The violence of the past three days had also been less intense than at the war's outset, with reduced firing on both sides. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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