72-hour ceasefire starts in Gaza, death toll hits 1458

The United States and United Nations announced Israel and Hamas agreed to an unconditional 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where death toll rises to 1458 from Israel''s naval, aerial and ground attacks since July 7.

Israel officially announced its approval of Gaza truce.

"Israel has accepted the UN/US proposal for a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire beginning 8:00am today," Israeli Prime Minister spokesman Ofir Gendelman said on his Twitter account.

This is the first official statement by Israel that it had accepted the ceasefire.

The Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said earlier that it had agreed to the ceasefire.

"The Palestinian factions and Israel had reached a 72-hour ceasefire through United Nations mediation," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. "The ceasefire is due to start at 8:00am on Friday," he told Anadolu Agency.

He said Gaza-based factions would abide by the humanitarian lull so long as Israel shows commitment to it too.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and United States Secretary of State John Kerry announced earlier that the Palestinians and the Israelis had agreed to the ceasefire and also to send their negotiators to the Egyptian capital Cairo to discuss a long-lasting agreement.

"This ceasefire is critical to giving innocent civilians a much-needed reprieve from violence," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a joint statement with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

All parties have assured Special Coordinator Robert Serry, the United Nations Representative in Jerusalem, that they would abide by the unconditional humanitarian ceasefire.

Ground forces will remain in place during the halt in hostilities as aid makes its way into the embattled Palestinian enclave. The pause will also allow for the burial of the dead, treatment of the wounded, restocking of food supplies, and repairs on badly damaged water and energy infrastructure.

Israel has been pounding the Gaza Strip since July 7 with fierce aerial, naval and ground bombardments with the ostensible aim of halting rocket fire from the strip, leaving 1458 dead and 8375 others injured so far.

The vast majority of the dead and injured victims are civilians: children, women and elderly people.

Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire rocket at Israeli cities in response to relentless Israeli bombardments.

According to official Israeli figures, 53 Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed since the hostilities began.