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A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Islamic group Hamas came into force at 06:00 a.m. local time (03:00 GMT) on Thursday, official sources in Tel Aviv and the Gaza Strip said.
The Gaza ceasefire between the two sides was agreed through an Egyptian mediator in Gaza on Tuesday. Under the agreement, the Israel will gradually abolish economic sanctions imposed on Gaza, and the sides will continue to negotiate the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held captive in Gaza for almost two years.
RIA Novosti reports that on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the ceasefire as "fragile" and said he expected it to be "very short."
And the two sides continued hostilities right up until the truce took hold with militants firing mortars rounds on Israel and Israeli air strikes on Gaza, in which one militant died and two were injured, according to Palestinian sources.
Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, a military wing of Islamist movement Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, announced however, it was ready to maintain the truce.
"We strictly comply with the terms of the agreement, reached by our political leadership," the group said in a statement. "But if the enemy violates the ceasefire, Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades are ready to strike the Zionist state."
Islamic Jihad has also confirmed that it would not violate the deal.
// 19.06.2008 13:02
News URL: http://news.mediaport.info/eng/world/2008/4182.shtml
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