On Friday at 8 a.m. local time the 72-hour cease-fire started in Gaza after more than 24 days of fighting in the area.
Secretary of State John Kerry said all parties had agreed to the cease-fire Thursday morning.
AP Photo/Lucas Jackson, Pool
It is a lull of opportunity, a moment for the sides and the different factions to be able to come together with the state of Israel in an effort to try to address ways to find a sustainable ceasefire and then, obviously, ultimately, over a longer period of time, address the underlying issues.
Now, obviously, while we are grateful that the violence and the bloodshed has the opportunity to stop for more than 24 hours, it is up to the parties -- all of them -- to take advantage of this moment. There are no guarantees.
Since the fighting began, four humanitarian cease-fires have been announced, but each have been broken within hours, the Associated Press reported.
Flares light up the sky over Gaza.
AP Photo/Dusan Vranic
The deal was arranged by Kerry and U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon, who released a joint statement saying they had received confirmations from all parties on the cease-fire.
"During this time the forces on the ground will remain in place," the statement reads. "We urge all parties to act with restraint until this humanitarian cease-fire begins, and to fully abide by their commitments during the cease-fire."
The statement also said they would send delegates to Cairo for negations to reach a long-lasting truce. The talks hosted by Egypt will be indirect, since Hamas refuses to meet with anyone from Israel.
The U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Robert Serry and U.S. Mideast envoy Frank Lowenstein are headed to Egypt to help with the negotiations.
Officials said more than 1,450 Palestinians have been killed—three-quarters of them civilians—since the fighting started. Israeli deaths have mostly been soldiers with 61 killed and 3 civilians deaths.
from BuzzFeed - Breaking http://ift.tt/1zBBV3g
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