Israeli soldiers wait atop their military vehicle near the Israel Gaza Border, early Tuesday, 15 July, 2014. (Photo:AP)
Israel's security cabinet on Tuesday accepted an Egyptian ceasefire proposal, a government spokesman said, after a week of the deadliest violence in and around Gaza in years.
"The cabinet has decided to accept the Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire starting 9am today," Ofir Gendelman, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Twitter.
Ministers in the security cabinet had begun meeting early on Tuesday to consider the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire to start immediately from 0600 GMT.
Although Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas has accepted the proposal, Israeli army radio noted that there had been no parallel acceptance of the initiative by Hamas.
The Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing said on Tuesday on their official website that they had not been informed about the "alleged initiative" neither officially nor unofficially.
The statement also says that this initiative is an initiative of "bowing and submission" and added that "it was not worth the ink it was written with".
"Our battle with the enemy will continue and will increase" it added.
There were no immediate reports of rocket fire at Israel after the deadline, with the army saying only two rockets had struck the south overnight, and another two shot down just 15 minutes before the Egyptian initiative came into effect.
Short link: