Israel, Hamas agree Gaza truce as death toll hits 223

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israel and Hamas have agreed to a UN request to halt hostilities for five hours on humanitarian grounds on Thursday, while efforts continue to broker a longer-term truce. The sides announced the temporary lull in fighting across the Gaza border after an Israeli strike killed four children on a beach in the coastal strip on Wednesday. A punishing Israeli offensive aimed at halting rocket fire into Israel by Hamas had resumed after previous Egyptian-brokered truce efforts collapsed Tuesday. Israel’s campaign, which entered its 10th day on Thursday, has killed 223 Palestinians so far, with a Gaza-based human rights group saying over 80 percent of them were civilians. In the same period, Hamas has fired more than 1,200 rockets at Israel. They claimed their first Israeli life on Tuesday. The army said early on Thursday that 82 rockets had hit Israel during the course of Wednesday and more than 30 were intercepted by Israel’s missile defenses. Hamas had rejected intitial Egyptian efforts for a full cease-fire, saying it had not been included in the discussions. The Israeli army announced it would halt its bombardment of Gaza between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. (0700 to 1200 GMT) Thursday, following a UN request for a humanitarian truce. Hamas later followed suit. “The Palestinian factions agreed to accept the offer from the United Nations for a cooling-down on the ground for five hours starting from 10 in the morning,” spokesman Sami Abu Zukhri told AFP. But in the early hours of Thursday Israeli air strikes continued to shake Gaza and rockets kept flying into Israel, each side said.   AFP