Egyptian mediators secure Israel-Gaza ceasefire: Hamas

<p>By Hedaya al-Saeedi</p> <p>GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Egypt has managed to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza-based resistance factions, a Hamas official said late Monday.</p> <p>“Egyptian efforts to secure a ceasefire between the [Israeli] occupation forces and resistance factions have met with success,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Gaza’s Sout Al-Aqsa radio station. </p> <p>According to Barhoum, the ceasefire went into effect at 10:00 p.m. local time (20:00 GMT).</p> <p>In a statement, Salama Marouf, head of the Gaza government's media office, said that state institutions were “functioning normally” despite a fresh round of Israeli airstrikes earlier Monday.</p> <p>Neither Israel nor Egypt have yet to officially confirm the reported ceasefire arrangement.</p> <p>On Monday morning, rocket-fire emanating from Gaza reportedly left seven Israelis injured. </p> <p>Israel responded by pounding Hamas positions across the Gaza Strip, to which Palestinian resistance factions responded in turn by firing rockets at two Israeli cities located near the Hamas-run coastal enclave.</p> <p>The Israeli army has reportedly deployed missile-defense batteries in several locations across the country, while sending two additional infantry brigades to the fraught Gaza-Israel buffer zone.</p> <p>*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat</p>