Israel agrees to 12-hour Gaza ceasefire

Reuters
Palestinians throw stones at members of the Israeli army during the funeral of three Palestinians, who medics said were killed during clashes with Israeli troops, in Beit Ommar town north of the West Bank city of Hebron July 25, 2014. REUTERS/ Mussa Qawasma

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has agreed to a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire in fighting with militants in the Gaza Strip to start at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT) on Saturday, a military spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said that during the brief truce, troops would keep searching for tunnels used by militants and that the military will "respond if terrorists choose to exploit this time to attack Israel Defense Forces personnel or fire at Israeli civilians." "Gaza civilians who have been requested to vacate from their residents are to refrain from returning," the spokeswoman said. (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)