Report: Israel, Hamas agree to Gaza cease-fire

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire proposed by Egypt, according to CNN. 

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told CNN Monday that Israel will halt all military activity if Hamas and other groups in the region honor the proposal.  

{mosads}”We will cease all our military activities, all our offensive operations against terrorist targets in the Gaza strip, including everything,” he said. “The tunnel issue is being solved by itself because that’s winding up anyway.” 

Israel has been conducting ground operations to clear Hamas tunnels used to move weapons and carry out attacks.

Regev said that Israel has been willing to accept a cease-fire for the past three weeks of violence and blamed Hamas for violating a similar three-day proposal last week. 

“So we are coming to this with our eyes open,” he said on CNN. “The onus is on Hamas and the other terrorist groups in Gaza — will they violate this other agreement? And if they do, I think it will be clear who is responsible for the continuation of the violence.” 

According to the AP, an Israeli delegation will head to Egypt to negotiate a longer truce.

Izzat Risheq, a senior Hamas official, told CNN it would accept the cease-fire but was waiting on Israel. 

“We are waiting on the Israelis to show up for the talks with the Egyptians about the proposed cease-fire,” Risheq said.

“If Israel does not show up, it means that they were never serious about ending this war and it will show their true intentions.”

The Washington Post reported that Israel announced a unilateral seven-hour ceasefire on Monday. 

The developments come as the Obama administration has ramped up pressure on Israel over civilian casualties in Gaza.

The State Department said Sunday it was “appalled” by an attack that killed 10 Palestinians sheltering at a U.N. school in Gaza. 

—Mario Trujillo contributed.