Israel approves Egyptian-proposed Gaza truce, Says Security Cabinet

Tel Aviv,15 July-2014(RT): Israel has announced it will agree to an Egyptian-backed ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the security cabinet has stated. The agreement was made minutes before the proposed truce was due to come into effect.

Israel approves Egyptian-proposed Gaza truce, Says Security Cabinet

Reuters / Finbarr O'Reilly

Israel has announced it will agree to an Egyptian-backed ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the security cabinet has stated. The agreement was made minutes before the proposed truce was due to come into effect.

Read more: Egypt proposes Israel-Gaza ceasefire

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet had convened to vote on the deal at Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv. The ceasefire will come into effect immediately.

However, Hamas says it’s likely to reject an Egyptian ceasefire proposal for the current Israel-Gaza conflict. The militant group said it had not officially received the text of the agreement, but believed it to be “an initiative of kneeling and submission.”

Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defense official and envoy to Cairo, cast the deal in a positive light, saying Hamas had been weakened by the air and sea bombardment of impoverished Gaza.

“Look at the balance, and you see that Hamas tried every possible means of striking at Israel while bringing great and terrible damage on its people, from their perspective,” Gilad told Israel’s Army Radio.