Israel accepts Gaza ceasefire proposal

Israel's cabinet has accepted an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire to end a week of conflict in Gaza that has killed 189 Palestinians, but the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas responded with suspicion. 

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the cabinet met on Tuesday morning and accepted the proposal, which came into effect at 6:00 GMT (9:00 local time) .

The plan calls for a ceasefire to begin within 12 hours of "unconditional acceptance'' by all sides, followed by the opening of Gaza's border crossings and talks in Cairo within two days.

Hamas, the dominant group in Gaza, has acknowledged "diplomatic movement'' on ending the conflict without yet formally accepting the proposal.

However, the group's armed wing, the Qassam brigades, rejected the proposal, according to its official website.

The Qassam Brigades said on Tuesday that it had not been sent details about the "alleged initiative" from any side, "officially or unofficially".

The statement said that excerpts published in the media showed it was an initiative of "bowing and submission", and added "it was not worth the ink it was written with".

Our battle with the enemy will continue and will increase in ferocity and intensity," it added.

Khaled al-Batch, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad armed group, said that the group welcomed "Egypt's role and efforts to end the Israeli aggression and defend the Palestinian people" but will not accept the ceasefire without conditions.

"It is not acceptable to start observing a ceasefire for short term then negotiate the terms. We have experienced this in the past and it has failed," he said.

"What is needed now is to agree on the demands of the Palestinian people, chiefly ending the siege and opening the border corsing, then a zero hour can be agreed upon. Otherwise, history will repeat itself, period."

In a televised statement on Al-Aqsa TV on Monday, Ismail Haniyeh, the deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas, said the group had been contacted about a ceasefire but he did not specify who had made that contact.

Haniyeh said: "Our people were avoiding the war but the Zionist enemy began it, he announced it, he prepared for it, he started to kill the women, children and families, destroy homes. Entire families were eliminated."

Egypt's state news agency said on Monday that US Secretary of State John Kerry is to fly to Cairo to discuss the situation and US President Barack Obama said he was "encouraged" by Egypt's proposal for a ceasefire.

At least 189 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict so far, and the UN has said that at least 80 percent of the casualties have been civilians. 

At least 10 Israelis have been injured by rockets fired from Gaza. No Israeli fatalities have been recorded.