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Displaced Palestinian children play in the northern Gaza Strip. AP/Press Association Images
Peace Talks
Five more days of peace: Israel and Hamas agree to extend ceasefire
The previous 72-hour cessation ended at 9pm.
ISRAEL AND PALESTINIANS have agreed to extend a ceasefire in Gaza for another 120-hours according to AFP.
The further five-day truce comes after the sides failed to reach a long-term agreement in the Cairo mediated talks.
The previously agreed three-day ceasefire expired at 9.00 pm (GMT) but both sides are believed to have come to agreement on a fresh truce within the past hour.
Palestinian’s chief negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed told AFP that the ceasefire will last for five days after he and other officials had initially spoke of a three-day lull.
“It will last for five days,” he said, adding more time was needed to discuss “some” remaining disputes with Israel over a long-term truce.
As the end of the three day ceasefire approached this evening, the Israeli military claimed that Hamas had fired a rocket from Gaza which landed in the city of Ashkelon.
The Israeli Defence Force did not say whether there were any injuries in the alleged attack.
A Hamas spokesperson denied to CNN that any rocket had been fired.
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