- Title: ISRAEL: Israeli cannons fire towards Gaza before ceasefire
- Date: 1st August 2014
- Summary: ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER, ISRAEL (AUGUST 1, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ISRAELI CANNONS FIRING TOWARDS GAZA ISRAELI SOLDIER CARRYING AMMUNITION CANNON FIRING CANNONS VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS FIRING MORTAR SHELLS TOWARDS GAZA SOLDIERS OPERATING MORTARS
- Embargoed: 16th August 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Reuters ID: LVA7WE6HV02CAICQUUZ2AI5PDBF5
- Story Text: Israeli cannons were firing towards Gaza on Friday (August 1) before an agreed three-day ceasefire in the coastal enclave was about to take effect.
Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip have agreed to a three-day humanitarian truce to begin Friday morning and negotiators from both sides will travel to Cairo to discuss a longer-term solution.
The 72-hour break after more than three weeks of fighting was set to begin at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT), according to a joint statement released by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
An official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel had accepted the U.S./U.N. proposal. A spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist group dominant in Gaza, said all Palestinian factions would abide by the truce.
Hours before the ceasefire was announced, Netanyahu, facing international alarm over a rising civilian death toll in Gaza, said he would not accept any truce that stopped Israel from completing the destruction of militants' infiltration tunnels.
According to the Kerry and Ban statement, forces on the ground would remain in place during the ceasefire.
Israel and Palestinian delegations in the meantime will travel to Cairo for separate negotiations to reach a more durable ceasefire, the statement said.
The Palestinian delegation will be comprised of Hamas, Western-backed Fatah, the Islamic Jihad militant group and a number of smaller factions, Palestinian officials said.
A senior U.S. State Department official said talks could start as early as Friday, depending on how long it takes the parties to reach Cairo. Representatives from Israel and the United States will not sit across the table from Hamas, the official added.
The United States, European Union and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist group.
Fighting continued, however, overnight. Hamas said it fired rockets at Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the area of Tel Aviv. Israel's military said its Iron Dome defense system intercepted one of the rockets. Residents of Gaza reported further Israeli shelling. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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