Gaza: Hamas said on Saturday it had agreed a truce with the Israeli regime in the Gaza Strip, a day after an occupation regime soldier was killed, along with four Palestinians along the volatile border.
The Israeli occupation regime rarely acknowledges ceasefires with Hamas, but an occupation military spokeswoman said civilian life should return to normal in areas next to Gaza.
On Friday, Palestinian fighters killed an occupation soldier and the occupation military launched dozens of strikes that killed four Palestinians, including three Hamas fighters. At least 120 Gazans were wounded.
“With Egyptian and United Nations efforts it has been agreed to return to the era of calm between (Israel) and Palestinian factions,” said Fawzi Barhoum, spokesman for Hamas.
The soldier was the first member of Israel’s army to be killed on the Gaza front since Israel’s brutal 2014 war on Gaza.
Egyptian security officials and a diplomat from another unnamed state held contacts with Hamas and Israel in an effort to restore calm and prevent further deterioration, a Palestinian official told Reuters.
If confirmed, it would be the third ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to be brokered by Egypt this year and the second truce to be agreed this week after a daylong flare up last on July 14.
Weekly clashes at the Gaza border have kept tensions high for months. At least 140 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during protests at the frontier held every week since March.
Protest organisers say they are demanding the right to return to lands lost to Israel in the 1948 war of its foundation and for an Israeli-Egyptian blockade to ease.
The Israeli killings come as Palestinian hopes for an independent state have dwindled and peace talks remain stalled.
Gaza, home to 2 million people, most of whom depend on foreign aid, has been under the Israeli occupation regime’s economic sanctions for 12 years.
