Israel and Hamas agree to 12-hour ceasefire

On July 25, Israeli and Hamas officials said the two sides had agreed to a temporary 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

An unnamed Hamas leader confirmed that the movement "agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire starting from 8am to 8pm on July 26".

Artillery shells fired from the Israeli army on July 19 (Source: AP)

Earlier, just hours after rejecting the terms of a ceasefire from US Secretary of State John Kerry, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would begin a 12-hour halt to hostilities in Gaza, starting at 7 a.m. on July 26, Israel time, or 4 a.m. GMT.

According to a VNA correspondent in the Middle East, on July 25, Prime Minister Netanyahu's security cabinet rejected a proposal for a longer ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and is seeking to change this plan.

Kerry is pushing for an 18-day truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Although details of the proposed truce have not been released, an unnamed Israeli government official said Tel Aviv wants amendments before agreeing to a cessation of hostilities. Government sources said the terms of the ceasefire proposed by Kerry were “completely unreasonable.” A senior Israeli government official said the proposal was not based on an Egyptian initiative and was biased in favor of Hamas. Hamas has yet to respond to Kerry’s proposal.

For his part, US Secretary of State Kerry acknowledged that there were still differences over the language of the framework agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza that he was confident would succeed. Speaking to reporters in Cairo, Mr. Kerry asserted that his efforts had made important progress but that more work remained, while assuring Mr. Netanyahu of his commitment to closing the gap that was preventing a seven-day humanitarian ceasefire. Mr. Kerry also confirmed that Mr. Netanyahu had accepted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's proposal for a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire.

Earlier, Israeli media quoted sources in the country's security and foreign affairs cabinet as saying that Tel Aviv viewed Mr. Kerry's bridge proposals as essentially "a Qatari proposal." Israel has accused Qatar of providing financial and political support to Hamas.

Meanwhile, a French diplomatic source said the country will host a meeting of foreign ministers, including the US, Türkiye and Qatar, in Paris on July 26 to coordinate efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

The source explained that the aim of the meeting is to gather all international efforts for a ceasefire as soon as possible. The meeting will also be attended by Germany, Italy, the UK and the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, but there will be no representatives from Israel, Hamas or the Palestinian Authority./.

According to VNA