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A 72-HOUR ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip brokered by Egypt came into effect at 8am (5am GMT) today.
Just minutes beforehand, air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as Hamas militants fired a barrage of rockets at central Israel, AFP correspondents said.
Similarly, in Gaza, following the quietest night since the operation began on July 8, the Israeli air force staged at least five raids shortly before the truce began.
Breakthrough
The breakthrough came during talks in Cairo on Monday, only days after a similar three-day truce collapsed in a deadly wave of violence within hours of starting on Friday.
The United States welcomed the three-day cessation of hostilities, adding that the onus was on the Palestinian militia to maintain the truce.
“This is a real opportunity. We strongly support the initiative,” Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken told CNN.
Images of the bloodshed — which has cost the lives of more than 1,800 Palestinians and 64 Israeli soldiers in and near Gaza as well as three civilians in Israel — have sent tensions in the region soaring, earning the Jewish state strong criticism.
“How many more deaths will it take to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza?” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius asked, as Britain said it was reviewing licences to sell arms to Israel.
Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that is the de facto ruler of Gaza, separately confirmed to AFP that they would abide by the new 72-hour ceasefire.
“Israel will be honouring the ceasefire from tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:00am (0500 GMT),” an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.
“Hamas informed Cairo a few minutes ago of their approval of the truce for 72 hours from tomorrow,” a spokesman for the group, Sami Abu Zuhri, said.
A Palestinian delegation, including representatives of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian Authority, was already in Cairo for talks on the terms of an agreement between Israel and Gaza, set to take place during the three-day truce.
Abu Zuhri later said a delegation of Hamas members from Gaza would be leaving for Cairo on Tuesday to join movement leaders from Egypt and Qatar.
The Israeli official confirmed that a delegation would be arriving in Egypt to participate in the talks.
The official also accused Hamas of prolonging bloodshed by not accepting a similar Egyptian proposal three weeks ago.
Hamas had rejected that initial Egyptian proposal, saying it hadn’t been consulted.
Mussa Abu Marzuk, a top figure in the Hamas politburo, said Monday that the new ceasefire proposal included an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli media quoted officials saying that if the truce would be upheld by Hamas, there would be no need for further military presence in Gaza.
‘Prolonged quiet’
The ceasefire came after Israeli forces had largely observed a unilateral seven-hour pause in their offensive on Monday.
Hamas did not observe the truce and fired 42 rockets and mortar shells over the border during the pause, 24 of which hit Israel and another one which was shot down, the army said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated following the end of the unilateral lull there would be no end to the Gaza military operation without first ensuring “quiet and security” in Israel “for a prolonged period.”
The Israeli military later said it still has many missions to carry out in Gaza despite destroying all of the known tunnels militants dug to attack its territory.
Israel launched the military operation against rocket-firing militants in Gaza on July 8, and nine days later it sent ground troops into the enclave to destroy the network of sophisticated attack tunnels.
In the hours leading to the begin of the Tuesday ceasefire Israeli forces were not carrying out major operations in Gaza, an AFP correspondent said, while a military spokeswoman said two rockets from Gaza were intercepted above a southern city.
Truce deal follows pressure
The truce announcement came after international outrage grew over an Israeli strike near a UN school on Sunday that killed 10 people, denounced by the UN as “a moral outrage and a criminal act”, with the United States saying it was “appalled”.
With UN figures indicating most of the 1,867 people killed in Gaza so far were civilians, the world has stepped up its demands for an end to the bloodshed.
In Paris, France’s top diplomat, an increasingly vocal critic of the war, demanded the world impose a political solution to end “the carnage”.
Israel said it had targeted three militants near the school and added it was investigating the strike.
Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov also added his voice to growing calls for an agreement to end the violence, his ministry said yesterday.
In Jerusalem, one Israeli was killed and five hurt when a Palestinian rammed an earthmover into a bus yesterday, turning it over before the driver was shot dead by police, according to Israeli officials, describing it as a “terrorist attack”.
Shortly afterwards, an Israeli soldier was shot and seriously wounded near a bus stop not far from the earlier attack, with police combing the area for his attacker.
Late yesterday, Palestinians rioted in several east Jerusalem neighbourhoods, throwing stones and firing flares at security forces who arrested two suspects, a police spokeswoman said.
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My mate’s a doctor in the south east. On more than one occasion he has dealt with men from Afghanistan and Pakistan and their multiple wives. One Afghani has been in 3 times in the past year with a different woman pregnant as his wife.
The third girl the guy claimed was 18 but my mate wasnt so sure. So he called the HSE, Gardai and other services and no one wanted to assist.
It’s happening here and is being brushed under the carpet. Polygamy is illegal in this country and our immigrant population need to be informed of this, and prosecuted to the fullest extent if they break the law.
Another example of muslim asylum seekers and migrants cultures trumping irish state law.
What are statistics of Pakistani/Afghan men acknowledging illegitimate children (unheard of in their culture) – then claiming right to stay!
Yes but we don’t want to appear racist – so let’s just leave it there.
Yes Good Early and do you know what else – Irish taxpayers are probably paying for the upkeep of him, his three wives and all his children! Wouldn’t it just give you the warm fuzzies!
I was thinking the same. They’re all in his medical card. I wonder if he can claim all of these wives as dependants with the Social.
I wanted to highlight it here as this sh*t is going on in Ireland. Not very PC to highlighted in this country while condemning it another
You can put your house on it that nobody will do anything about this medieval carry on , where are all the bleeding hearts who love an ‘issue ‘ to fill their empty days or even a feminist will do to ‘raise concerns ‘ about the treatment of women by these yokes , the only thing we are sure about is that what we see across the water has arrived here and in a generation we will have our own Rotherham
Good early…its like child abuse and destruction of whistleblowers….the powers that be dont like the boat being rocked…
Mike…RT today forced nordic state govt spokespersons to admit they are permitting child marriages exist/take place in reception centres for muslim/african asylum seekers…does/will that be embraced here amongst the “new irish”? Or is it already?
Let’s call this what it is- Paedophilia!
Good Early, You should tell your friend to go to a newspaper and give his story anonymously if needs be! It’s a disgrace and should be exposed.
Original….you and i agree…the multiculturalists among us would say its criminal and sick if you or i did it….but would say that for an african its cultural,thus acceptable.I look forward to the 1st such case exposed here.
All the bigots here on their high horses, the girl in the articles name is Maria. I wonder what religion she is from? And while this practice is despicable it is not limited to one ethnic group or religion. In Ireland not so long ago it was common practice to marry off teenage girls to old men (the quiet man is a a parody of this but it goes easy on the actual age difference).or else to put them on the emigrant boat. Such behaviour is commonly the result of extreme poverty and ignorance Anything for a rant a Johnny foreigner but just remember it i is only recent economic development with its attendant opportunties which have permitted your younger sister to avoid marrying 52 year Joe Mulvay with his 3 acres.
Her name is given as “Maria”, note inverted commas, so real name most likely isn’t.
Matty Matty Matty, I think you’ll find that “the traditional practice of ‘bog-lenga’ or ‘bonus woman’” is NOT a Christian practice – its one of their own African cultural practices. Also, it’s actually quite a considerably amount of time since teenage girls were married off to old men in Ireland. It’s like this Matty – you’re either against these practices or you’re not.
Matty..scroll down..note that i exculpated these folk already on the grounds of poverty and lack of education…and further noted that Colm o Gorman is attendant on the case….thus as a social justice campaigner i have already intervened.
Matty is a Gary Glitter fan! But he can’t bring the race card into the conversation if Garry the freak gets a good kicking
That’s just fooooooked up shit right there. Poor children don’t stand a chance in life
Just noticed colm o gorman is on the case….he knows education and lots of money will make burkina faso better…
Criminal.
Also can we have more reports on the jump in child marriage in Europe and what its causes are please?
Maybe an opinion piece from one of our college lecturers on how “culturally enriching” this kind of thing is?
Its their culture..we must celebrate it…though they would be tough neighbours to get to know.id love to eavesdrop on a cultural relativist workshop as they work out how to sell the benefits of these practices to a host nation…
As yes, more Islam enriching our world, third article today by my count… doesn’t it make you feel warm and fuzzy!
her name is Maria
No, her name is “Maria”. So her real name most likely isn’t.
Yes, and taking more than one wife is forbidden in Christianity.
So which do you think is more plausible? That the man having five wives is a spoof, or that they named to girl Maria and never mentioned Islam so people like you wouldn’t have to get that sickly feeling in your belly between the truth and not wanting to appear racist haha!
Ps I think it’s a set up to spare your feelings ;)
Plenty of Christian organisations practicing polygamy in the US and elsewhere.
Plenty, really? Name 5 if you could.
It doesn’t really matter if you can name them or not, not one recognized Christian Church practices polygamy, not one Catholic, Protestant, Assyrian, Coptic, Orthodox or otherwise; in conjunction polygamy is not legal in “christian” countries either.
So to compare that to Islam, where polygamy is scripturally permissible, accepted by each of the four Islamic schools of jurisprudence and is legal under CIVIL law in many Islamic countries, is a comparison so weak as to really make me doubt your knowledge on the subject.
Sad I suppose…but what the hell has it to do with us?
It’s Africa’s problem.
One more in a long list.
You are all Hart cal.
Also a uk , Swedish problem . Etc . Actually now it’s a European prob
Cal, You’re right – it is “Africa’s problem” and it is “one more in a long list” but it is still actually very sad and twisted – and it shouldn’t happen anywhere in the world!
I would have chosen a different organ to describe Cal.
Cal has no idea of history
Cerebral?
The Muslims have made it clear they will take over Europe because they can have as many wife’s and children as they want that is why I would be very slow in giving anyone of them citizenship .
Let the savages do what they want in their own countries but don’t be bringing it here. King George was right; abroad is bloody
That’s what Jesus would have said Cal
Pedos?
Which god do they worship again? The pedophile one?
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