Israel is to halt its three-week military offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said.
Mr Olmert said a unilateral Israeli ceasefire would take effect from 0200 (2400 GMT).
Earlier, a Hamas spokesman said it would fight until its demands were met, including an Israeli withdrawal.
Nearly 1,200 Palestinians have been killed since the violence began on 27 December. Thirteen Israelis have died.
Minutes before Mr Olmert was due to speak, a rocket was fired from Gaza, a BBC producer in Gaza said.
The Israeli prime minister's announcement came in a televised address following a late-night cabinet meeting.
Israel's operation in Gaza had fully achieved its aims, Mr Olmert said, with Hamas badly damaged both militarily and in terms of infrastructure.
But the success of the ceasefire depended on Hamas, he said.
If militant rocket fire into Israel continued, Hamas would respond with force, he said.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
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2 comments:
Israel unilaterally declared a ceasefire yesterday. Of course it quickly vanished when Hamas fired five rockets into Israel. Hamas does not want to cease fire unless it is on their therms. They are concerned about looking defeated in the eyes of the Arab world. In truth, they have been defeated from a military standpoint. The vanishing Israeli cease fire
Finally, Hamas declared ceasefire as well. Let's hope that this will calm the waters for a while. I agree that Hamas is not really looking out for peace or anything that would help these communities to live together. Still it is very sad that the civilians (that is more than 1200(!) Palestinians + 13 Israelis) had to pay the dues of the government/organization actions for the last few weeks.
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