26/07/2014 15:20
Gaza death toll mounts to 940 amid fragile 12-hour truce
A 12-hour "humanitarian window" began Saturday after Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza agreed to a UN request for a pause in fighting, even as 76 more bodies were recovered taking the Palestinian death toll in the 19-day conflict to over 940 with 38 Israeli deaths.
The bodies were retrieved in the first few hours of the "humanitarian" truce that came into effect at 0500 GMT as top world diplomats in Paris worked on a longer-term ceasefire.
Palestinian emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said 76 bodies had been brought to hospitals in north, central and southern Gaza, as well as Gaza City, but that the toll was expected to rise even further.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said late last night that there was "national consensus on a humanitarian truce....For 12 hours on Saturday".
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) later confirmed the truce but vowed to continue to "locate and neutralise" Hamas tunnels during the truce that started at 8 AM (0500 GMT) today.
"We will respond if terrorists choose to exploit this time to attack IDF personnel or fire at Israeli civilians," the Israeli army said in a statement.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said that so far 940 people, most of them civilians, have been killed.
Two Israeli soldiers were also killed in fighting taking the death toll on the Israeli side to 38.