Unified Palestinian Coalition Offers Ceasefire

On Tuesday, July 29th, a 24-hour ceasefire was offered by the Palestinian Liberation Organization in coordination with the major Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They also stated that they are open to extending the ceasefire for 48 hours and sending a multi-party delegation to Cairo to discuss next steps.

"This is more proof that we have a unified Palestinian stand. This delegation will head to Cairo under the PLO umbrella represented by its head, Mahmoud Abbas." said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a PLO executive committee member.

This announcement came on one of the deadliest days since the beginning of the Israeli military's attack on Gaza, “Operation Protective Edge”, killing at least 100 Palestinians on Tuesday alone.

Mark Regev, the Israeli government spokesperson, said to AP that he would not consider the offer to be “serious” until Hamas spoke directly to Israel.

A Hamas spokesperson from Lebanon, said that they welcomed the ceasefire but needed, “a guarantee that the Israelis will not violate it."

It has been more than three weeks since Israel began bombing the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,100 Palestinians, wounding over 6,000 more.