A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas meant to last at least three days and end nearly a month of fighting went into effect in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, according to Reuters.
The truce came ahead of talks in Cairo aimed at brokering a deal that would prevent future cross-border violence, Reuters reported.
The temporary truce, agreed to by both sides, started at 8 a.m. and was to last for 72 hours during which Israel and Hamas are to hold indirect talks in the Egyptian capital, but previous international attempts to broker a temporary halt in the fighting have failed, according to Reuters.
Hamas wants Israel and Egypt to lift their seven-year-old Gaza border blockade. Israel is reluctant to open Gaza's borders unless Hamas is disarmed, Reuters reported.
The war broke out on July 8 when Israel launched airstrikes it said were in response to weeks of heavy rocket fire out of Hamas-controlled Gaza, and expanded the operation on July 17 by sending in ground forces in what it described as a mission to destroy a network of tunnels used to stage attacks, according to Reuters.
The fighting has claimed nearly 1,900 Palestinian lives, most of them civilians, Reuters reported. The war has also left 67 dead on the Israeli side, all but three of them soldiers.
Talks in Cairo will be crucial in the coming days. Ending the Gaza conflict without a sustainable truce raises the probability of more cross-border fighting in the future, according to Reuters.
In the hours leading up to the cease-fire, there were also signs of tensions created by the Gaza fighting spreading to Jerusalem and the West Bank, including two attacks police say were carried out by Palestinian militants, Reuters reported.
A unilateral withdrawal would have allowed Israel to end the conflict on its own terms, without engaging in protracted negotiations with Hamas over new border arrangements in Gaza, according to Reuters. In such talks, brokered by Egypt, Israel would be asked for concessions it has been unwilling to make, such as opening Gaza's borders.
