Fresh 72-hour truce begins in Gaza

by AFP
August 11, 2014 

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – A fresh 72-hour truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on Monday, paved the way for negotiations in Egypt focused at a peaceful solution to a month-long conflict that has wreaked devastating bloodshed. The agreement commenced at 00:01 am (2101 GMT on Sunday) after days of frantic mediation to curb down violence that resulted in 1,939 Palestinian deaths and 67 Israeli fatalities since July 8. Minutes before the ceasefire began, Hamas’s armed wing said it launched ”several” rockets at Israel, including one at Tel Aviv. There were no immediate reports of any damage.

Egypt prodded Israel and the Palestinians to utilize the new truce to arrive at a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire, after an earlier three-day lull in the conflict collapsed last Friday. ”Israel has accepted the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire,” an Israeli official told AFP shortly after a Palestinian source accepted the initiative.

The ceasefire must point to the lifting by Israel of its blockade of the Gaza Strip, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal told AFP in an exclusive interview in Doha on Sunday. ”We insist on this goal,” he said. ”In the case of Israeli indecisiveness or continued aggression, Hamas is ready with other Palestinian factions to resist on the ground  and politically,” he added.

There are about 120,000 Filipinos in Israel, wherein 50,000 to 60,000 are documented and about 40,000 are illegal. The Philippine Embassy in Israel calculates that about 40,000 are legally working and living in Israel. (source: buhayofw)