Hamas: New ceasefire with Egyptian mediation

A leader of the Palestinian group Hamas says the group has agreed to a new ceasefire with Israel, after six days of bloodshed in and around the Gaza Strip. "Our Egyptian brothers have asked us to cease firing at Israel: we told the Egyptians that we agree to exchange peace-for-peace with Israel," Ayman Taha, the leader, said. An official close to Hamas said on Saturday that the truce would take effect from midnight local time. Earlier, Palestinian officials said the latest attacks brought the number of people killed so far in Israeli attacks on Saturday to three, and to 15 since this round of violence erupted on Monday. Palestinian medics said the dead included a small child and that at least 24 others had been wounded. One attack by an Israeli drone killed a Palestinian man, Khaled al-Burai, 25, east of Jabaliya, in the north of Gaza, a medical source said. Two other Palestinians survived the attack, witnesses reported. Later, in the afternoon, Israeli air raids killed 42-year-old Usama Ali, and wounded 10 passersby, according to Abham Abu Selmiya, spokesperson for the emergency services. Palestinian medics said he was riding a motorcycle in Gaza City's al-Nasser neighbourhood when he was hit. Earlier in the day Hamas had threatened to end a three-day-old Egyptian-brokered truce following a series of deadly Israeli air raids. A statement on Saturday from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said, "the air raids by the Zionist enemy are new crimes. We will not remain silent in the face of the crimes". Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Saturday night his army "will do all that is possible to defend the residents of the southern settlements of Israel," indicating that the Israeli aggression would not stop in the short-term. Meanwhile, Hamas warned of their response towards Israel's escalating attacks, stressing that the Palestinian people have the right to resist and to defend themselves, and calling on all Arab and international bodies "to bear their responsibilities towards Israel's crimes against Palestinian civilians."