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AP/Press Association Images

850 dead

Gaza: Israel and Hamas 'agree 12-hour ceasefire'

The US and UN are pushing for a seven-day halt in the violence, which has now killed more than 850 people.

Updated at 11.30pm

A HAMAS OFFICIAL HAS told AFP that the Islamist militant group will observe a 12-hour Gaza ceasefire, starting tomorrow morning.

“There is national consensus on a humanitarian truce… for 12 hours on Saturday, from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, (0600 to 1800 Irish time),” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zukhri said.

Earlier, a US official said that Israel had decided on a unilateral 12-hour Gaza ceasefire from 7am Saturday morning.

There has been no official Israeli comment but Haaretz newspaper quoted an unnamed senior Israeli official as confirming a 7am Israeli ceasefire.

Earlier US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was still confident of a longer ceasefire, as efforts continued to bring an end to the conflict in the region.

© – AFP 2014

First posted at 7.30pm.

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