Israel, Hamas agree to temporary cease-fire ... again



GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israel and Hamas have accepted a 72-hour cease-fire proposed by Egypt, Israeli government officials and a Hamas official told CNN on Sunday.

The temporary cease-fire would allow for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, Egypt's Foreign Ministry and senior Hamas official Izzat Risheq said.

Egypt is "inviting" both sides to resume a cease-fire at midnight local time tonight (5 p.m. ET Sunday) so that both sides can "use the opportunity" to resume indirect talks in Cairo, as well as to allow for humanitarian help to get to the victims of the fighting, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bader Abdelatty said.

Israel has resisted in-depth talks as long as Gaza rockets continue to head toward its territory.



The rockets have been met with Israeli airstrikes in recent days, dimming hopes of a cease-fire in the Israeli-Gaza conflict that has raged for more than a month.

Israeli negotiators left talks last week. On Sunday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said they would not return until rockets from Gaza stop. "We will not negotiate under fire," he said.

Palestinians said an Israeli no-show means they are walking away, too.

"If the Israelis do not come, we will leave to consult with our leadership," said Izzat Al-Risheq, a member of the Palestinian negotiation team. "We gave our demands to the Egyptian delegation seven days ago. We have not have received any official response yet."

Hamas, the Islamic militant group and political party that controls Gaza, has said it will not settle.

"We will not return to the status quo," it said in a statement on its website. "The resistance will continue in all its strength and we will not stop pushing for our people's demands."

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, which brokered recent talks, has said the parties had reached an agreement on most issues. Those not agreed upon were few and limited, the ministry said in a statement.

History of deadlock

Still, there's too much history between the two sides, an agreement on some issues will not necessarily lead to a grander breakthrough.

Palestinians have asked for Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza and to re-open the air and seaports, a negotiator who spoke on condition of anonymity said. Israeli authorities fear Hamas could import weapons by sea and maintains a ship blockade off Gaza's shores.

Palestinians also wanted Israel to extend Gaza's fishing zone in the Mediterranean from three miles off the coast to 20. Fishing is a keystone of Gazan livelihoods. But Israel was willing to extend fishing rights to only six miles off the coast, said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

With the latest failed cease-fire quickly becoming a distant memory, the two sides in the Israel-Gaza conflict traded blame, rockets and airstrikes on Saturday.

There have been efforts to halt the bloodshed as well as to broach some of the thorny issues related to it. And there have been some breakthroughs, including a few cease-fires.

Yet none of those peacemaking attempts, so far, has stuck.

Death toll's rise slows

The death toll's climb has slowed since the IDF announced overnight into Saturday an end of its ground incursion in Gaza -- even as it continued to strike from the air. Israeli forces say troops redeployed after completing their mission of destroying Hamas' tunnels.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the operation continues.

"At no stage did we announce its end," he said. "The operation will continue until we complete its aims - the return of quiet for a continuous period of time."

Still, while there weren't scores of dead Saturday as has been true many other days over the past few weeks, the total carnage remains significant.

According to el-Qedra, at least 1,911 in Gaza have died since the conflict began, in addition to just under 10,000 injured.

On Sunday, a 17-year-old boy was added to the dead, and several others were wounded in an Israeli strike the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said.

It's unclear how many casualties were militants: The United Nations estimates that about 70% of the dead were civilians, or about 1,340. IDF, meanwhile says about 900 militants have been killed, which would put the civilian death toll at around 1,000.

IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said that that number was a preliminary estimate based on field reports from troops returning from battle.

Israeli officials say 64 Israeli soldiers have died, and three civilians were killed in Israel. The Iron Dome missile defense system has intercepted many of the rockets Gazan militants have fired at populated areas of the country.




CNN's John Vause reported from Gaza, Matthew Chance reported from Jerusalem; Samira Said reported from Atlanta, and Faith Karimi and Ashley Fantz wrote and reported from Atlanta. CNN's Ali Younes and Tal Heinrich also contributed to this report.