The Egyptian Foreign Ministry says it has invited Palestinian authorities and Israel for truce talks in Cairo following an agreement by the two sides to hold a ceasefire in Gaza for 72 hours and despite reports now that the truce has been broken with renewed Israeli fire. "Egypt emphasises the importance of both sides committing to the ceasefire so the negotiations can take place in a favourable atmosphere," the foreign ministry said in a statement. The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas confirmed that it has received the invitation and that it will send a delegation to Cairo to partake in the negotiations. Later on, Fawzi Barhum, a spokesman for Hamas commented on the truce, saying that resistance forces will abide by the terms of the agreement only if the Israeli army respects it. The 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire came into effect in the Gaza Strip after 25 days of Israeli military attacks on the besieged enclave, which have left at least 1,460 people, most of them women and children, dead and some 8,400 others injured. However, Palestinian sources have said Israel has violated the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip shortly after the start of the truce. According to the Palestinian sources, at least four people were killed and many others injured after Israeli warplanes bombed Rafah town in the south of the coastal enclave. Meanwhile, some other reports say Israeli snipers are firing at people in the al-Sha'af neighborhood of Gaza City. Source: Press TV
