GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel and Hamas have agreed to an unconditional 72-hour humanitarian truce to begin Friday morning, diplomats from the United States and the United Nations announced Thursday, potentially paving the way for an end to the 24-day-old war.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry cautioned there were “no guarantees” the lull in violence would bring an end to the conflict, adding: “This is not a time for congratulations or joy or anything except a serious determination — a focus by everybody to try to figure out the road ahead.”
The announcement came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas’ tunnel network “with or without a cease-fire” and as the Palestinian death toll soared past 1,400.
At least four short humanitarian cease-fires have been announced since the conflict began, but each has been broken by renewed fighting.
A joint statement released simultaneously in New Delhi, where Kerry is traveling, and at U.N. headquarters in New York said the U.S. and U.N. had gotten assurances that all parties to the conflict had agreed to an unconditional cease-fire.
“During this time, the forces on the ground will remain in place,” the announcement said, which means that Israeli troops can continue destroying the labyrinth of tunnels in Gaza that Netanyahu has said are the prime target of the operation.
An official at the prime minister’s office confirmed that Israel had agreed to a 72-hour truce beginning at 8 a.m. local time Friday.
Israeli and Palestinian delegations were expected to travel immediately to Cairo for talks with the Egyptian government aimed at reaching an end to the conflict.
Under the truce, Israeli forces would be allowed to continue sealing the tunnels that Hamas has constructed to sneak into Israel. But offensive operations would cease and Israeli forces would not take any more ground. The United Nations would help determine the current Israeli lines.
During this period, the Palestinians would receive food and medicine and tend to their wounded. The United States had already announced $47 million in humanitarian relief.
The Palestinian delegation is expected to include members of Hamas, which the United States and Israel consider a terrorist organization and cannot be negotiated with directly. So if the Israelis and Palestinians meet face to face, the Hamas members will not participate in those talks.
The Egyptians will be the go-between for the sides and will help coordinate, a senior State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t allowed to discuss the issue publicly.
At least 1,441 Palestinians have been killed, three-quarters of them civilians, since hostilities began on July 8, according to Gaza health ministry officials — surpassing the at least 1,410 Palestinians killed in Israel’s last major invasion in 2009.
Israel says 56 soldiers, two Israeli civilians and a Thai agricultural worker have died, far more than the 13 Israeli deaths in the previous campaign.
Israel expanded what started as an aerial campaign against Hamas and widened it into a ground offensive on July 17. Since then, Israel says, the campaign has concentrated on destroying cross-border tunnels militants constructed to carry out attacks inside Israeli territory and ending rocket attacks on its cities.
“We have neutralized dozens of terror tunnels and we are committed to complete this mission, with or without a cease-fire,” Netanyahu said Thursday.
For Israel, the tunnel network is a strategic threat. It says the tunnels are meant to facilitate mass attacks on civilians and soldiers inside Israel, as well as kidnappings. Palestinian militants trying to sneak into Israel through the tunnels have been found with sedatives and handcuffs, an indication they were planning abductions, the military says.
Palestinians have fired more than 2,850 rockets at Israel — some reaching major cities but most intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system. Hamas has said it will halt fire only once it receives guarantees that a Gaza border blockade by Israel and Egypt will be lifted.
Israel says it wants to decimate Hamas’ rocket-launching capability, diminish its weapons arsenal and demolish the tunnels. It has launched more than 4,000 strikes against Hamas-linked targets, including rocket launchers and mosques where it says weapons were being stored.
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