(CNN) — Cheers and celebratory gunfire echoed through Gaza Tuesday after a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas militants was announced.
Hamas — as it has after every battle with Israel — declared victory.
It’s “a day of the victories for our people,” spokesman Fawhi Barhoum declared before a cheering, screaming crowd. He praised the “steadfastness and resistance” in Gaza.
“The occupiers have tried to break them… but the delegation spoke with one voice,” he said of the negotiations.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is not part of Hamas and lives in the West Bank, thanked “Egypt and everyone who supported all the efforts that resulted in this agreement to end the aggression.”
“Together, we will rebuild our free country,” he added.
Abbas is with the Palestinian faction Fatah, the longtime rival of Hamas, which has run the government in the West Bank. The two factions have battled and kidnapped each other’s militants in the past but also repeatedly announced plans for a unity government, including one this year.
The ceasefire went into effect at 7 p.m. (noon ET).
A senior Israeli government official said Israel “once again” accepted Egypt’s proposed ceasefire.
Throughout the conflict, Israel has openly accepted Egypt’s ceasefire proposals and slammed Hamas for not doing so. Many analysts saw Egypt’s offers as a sign that the fighting was a proxy war for the broader Middle East, with key nations such as Egypt supporting Israel’s fight against Hamas.
There was no indication that the agreement addresses core issues on either side.
Israel agreed to ease the blockade on Gaza, open border crossings for humanitarian and medical aid, and extend the fishing limit off the coast to six miles, according to a senior Egyptian government official.
Both sides agreed to return to Cairo for further talks, the official said.
The Israeli official, meanwhile, said this ceasefire deal, unlike previous ones during the conflict, is unlimited in duration.
The source said the two sides agreed to continue negotiations.
Israel has said its military actions successfully destroyed dozens of tunnels used by Palestinian militants to smuggle weapons used to attack Israeli civilians.
One airstrike last week killed three high-ranking Hamas militants.
Hamas later killed 18 of its own, accusing them of being informants for Israel.
As news of the possible deal broke Tuesday, a flurry of violence was reported. Warning sirens blared in southern Israel, indicating rocket attacks from Gaza. Israeli emergency services reported that one person was critically wounded and two others were seriously wounded.
Separately, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, south of Gaza City, according to Ashraf el-Qedra, spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
50 days into Israeli operation
The ceasefire came on the 50th day of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, aimed at stopping rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and weeding out the militants’ tunnels.
More than 2,130 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict. It’s not clear how many were civilians. The United Nations estimates that more than 70% were civilians, but Israel reports a higher number of militants among the dead.
On Sunday, the IDF accused Hamas of routinely exaggerating civilian deaths “for propaganda purposes.”
Sixty-seven Israelis — 64 of them soldiers — have been killed, the United Nations reports. A foreign worker in Israel was killed as well.
A 4-year-old boy became Israel’s latest civilian victim Friday when a mortar shell exploded in the parking lot of a kibbutz, Israeli rescue services said.
On Monday night, Israel blasted a second residential tower in Gaza. The Health Ministry said 20 people were injured in the airstrike.
The Israeli military said the building housed a Hamas “command and control center.” Palestinians evacuated the building after warnings from Israel, the IDF said.
Hamas acknowledges militants killed teens
Israel’s operation followed the June abductions and killings of three Israeli teenagers who were on their way home from school in the West Bank. At the time, Israel blamed Hamas.
On Friday, a Hamas official admitted that the act was carried out by Hamas militants. The official said the attackers did not tell their leaders.
After the boys were buried, a Palestinian teen was killed. Israeli authorities arrested the suspects, saying it was believed to have been a revenge killing.
