Both Israel and Hamas agreed to another 72-hour cease-fire in Gaza on Monday. The Egypt brokered deal, which comes on the heels of a similar truce over the weekend that unraveled within hours, is set to start on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. local time. This is the second time Cairo has tried to initiate truce talks in the month-long conflict that has killed more than 1,8000 Palestinians and 67 Israelis. The previous Cairo cease-fire agreement was agreed to by Israel, but not Hamas.
“A Palestinian delegation, including Hamas representatives, has been holding talks in Cairo with Egyptian mediators for a durable truce in Gaza, but Israel has not yet sent any negotiators to the Egyptian capital,” the Associated Press reports. The break in the fighting comes as “Israeli forces [appear] to be winding down their monthlong offensive in the Palestinian territory,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “Bassam Salhi, a member of the Palestinian People’s Party, said the cease-fire would allow time to invite an Israeli delegation to Cairo to begin talks on a durable peace.”
Israel’s military said it has completed its military mission to destroy 30 tunnels stretching from Gaza across the border. An Israeli diplomatic official told the Times of Israel that “Israel had agreed to the ceasefire with no preconditions, noting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been waiting until all Hamas tunnels used to infiltrate into Israel had been destroyed, which, according to military officials, was done earlier Monday.”
