Agencies
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The Israeli army said yesterday that it still has many “missions” to carry out in Gaza even as reports came of a ceasefire deal in Cairo.
“We will not leave; we will stay in the Gaza Strip; there are many more missions to complete,” army spokesman Moti Almoz said on Israel’s Channel 2 television.
“All of the tunnels we have located have been destroyed,” he claimed, adding however that “talking about the end of the mission against the tunnels doesn’t mean talking about an end to the Gaza mission”.
Israel launched the military assault on Gaza on July 8, and nine days later it sent ground troops into the enclave.
Images of the bloodshed in Gaza, which has claimed more than 1,800 Palestinian lives and 67 in Israel, have sent tensions soaring across the region, earning the Jewish state strong criticism for the soaring numbers of civilian casualties.
“How many more deaths will it take to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza?” asked French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
In Jerusalem, an Israeli official said the Jewish state had agreed to an Egyptian proposal for a three-day ceasefire in the Gaza war, to start at 0500 GMT today.
“We agree to begin implementing the Egyptian initiative. If the ceasefire is upheld there will be no need for any presence of (Israeli) forces in the Gaza Strip,” said an official.
Meanwhile, the Arab League has urged member countries and international community to provide urgent aid for the Gaza Strip.