Ceasefire takes effect after spike in Israel-Gaza violence

The death toll on the Gaza Strip rose to 32 in three days.

A Gaza Strip ceasefire came into effect early Thursday, an Egyptian source and a senior Islamic Jihad official told AFP, following a spike in violence in the Palestinian enclave.
The "ceasefire agreement comes as a result of Egypt's efforts" and has been endorsed by "Palestinian factions including Islamic Jihad", said the top Egyptian official. An Islamic Jihad source confirmed the agreement to AFP.
According to the official, the agreement stipulates that Palestinian factions must ensure a return to calm in Gaza and "maintain peace" during demonstrations, while Israel must stop hostilities and "ensure a ceasefire" during demonstrations by Palestinians.
The agreement, which entered into force at 5:30am (3:30 GMT), came after the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip rose to 32 since Tuesday after Palestinian officials said six members of the same family had been killed.
"Six members of the Abu Malhous family, including three children and two women, were killed in an Israeli strike on their family home in Deir al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip," the Palestinian ministry of health said.
In Gaza, residents surveyed damage and mourned the dead outside a mortuary and at funerals.
A total of 32 Palestinians had been killed by Thursday morning, including Ata and his wife as well as three children, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.
Schools in the blockaded Gaza Strip, an enclave of two million people, have been closed since Tuesday.

• MENA