BICOM

The IDF announced a unilateral seven-hour humanitarian ceasefire this morning, from 10am until 5pm local time, for the whole Gaza strip except the border town of Rafah.

The ceasefire appears to be linked to the redeployment of IDF troops away from major population centres as the current phase of Operation Protective Edge – the destruction of tunnels from Gaza into Israel – comes to an end. Some displaced Palestinians have also been told that it is now safe to return to their homes.

The temporary unilateral ceasefire comes after unusually strong criticism yesterday of a strike on or near a United Nations-run school which was being used as a shelter. The strike killed at least 10 people. The US State Department called the incident “disgraceful” while UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called it a “moral outrage and a criminal act” and said that those responsible must be held accountable. The IDF says it was targeting three Islamic Jihad members on motorcycles riding in the vicinity school and did not target or hit the school itself. The IDF and security services have also targeted Islamic Jihad’s northern Gaza commander Danyal Mansour and senior Hamas explosives expert Ahmed Mabhouh.

Israel is close to destroying all of the tunnels that it knows about, but is also discovering new tunnels. This phase of the ground operation is expected to continue for another day or two.

Meanwhile, rocket fire from Gaza has continued on Israel. Yesterday there were 119 rockets fired on Israel, an increase on recent days. There have been fewer medium and long-range rockets, but short-range rocket fire on cities closer to Gaza has increased. In total, 3,250 rockets have been fired since the beginning of the current escalation.