Palestinian death toll hits 870: Israel, Hamas agree 12-hr lull

Israel and Gaza’s dominant Islamist organisation Hamas have agreed to a 12-hour humanitarian cease-fire in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. The truce is due to begin at 0800 local time (0500 GMT). Efforts to negotiate a 7-day ceasefire proposed by the United States are still ongoing. Earlier US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was still confident of a longer ceasefire, despite media reports that Israel had rejected one proposal. Meanwhile, over 870 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and 36 Israeli soldiers and two civilians have died since Israel’s invasion of Gaza on July 8. A spokesman for Hamas, the main militant group that controls Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri said there was ‘national consensus on a humanitarian truce... for 12 hours on Saturday’. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later confirmed the truce on Twitter, but said it would ‘continue to locate and neutralise terror tunnels’. ‘We will respond if terrorists choose to exploit this time to attack IDF personnel or fire at Israeli civilians,’ Israeli military said, report agencies.