Israel, Hamas agree to three-day cease-fire
NEW DELHI – Israel and Hamas have agreed to a humanitarian cease-fire to start this morning for 72 hours, the United States and United Nations announced Thursday.
In a statement released in New Delhi where Secretary of State John Kerry is traveling, the U.S. and U.N. said they had gotten assurances that all parties to the conflict in Gaza had agreed to an unconditional cease-fire during which there would be negotiations on a more durable truce in the 3-week-old fighting.
“This humanitarian cease-fire will commence at 8 a.m. local time on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014. It will last for a period of 72 hours unless extended. During this time the forces on the ground will remain in place,” the statement said.
The statement said the cease-fire was critical to give civilians a much-needed reprieve.
Militants capture major Libyan city
BENGHAZI, Libya – Islamic hard-line militias, including the group accused by the United States in a 2012 attack that killed the ambassador and three other Americans, claimed control of Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi, after overrunning army barracks and seizing heavy weapons.
The sweep in the eastern city is part of a new backlash by hard-liners against their rivals ahead of the sitting of a new parliament. In the capital Tripoli, escalating battles Thursday between militias prompted multiple foreign governments to scramble to get out their citizens as thousands of Libyans fled across the border into Tunisia.
The surge of violence renewed fears that Libya, is plunging deeper into civil strife.
Associated Press
