Israel and Hamas agree to finish the ceasefire over the Gaza battle

Palestinians inspect a location hit during an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on May 20, 2021.

Mahmud Hams | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON – Israel’s security cabinet voted in favor of a provisional ceasefire on Thursday after 11 days of fighting with Hamas in Israel and the Gaza Strip.

A Hamas official confirmed to Reuters that a “mutual and simultaneous” ceasefire with Israel would begin at 2:00 am on Friday

The White House is expected to respond to the news shortly.

The news follows a call Wednesday between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the call, Biden said he expected “significant de-escalation” of the violence, according to the White House report.

It was their fourth conversation since the outbreak of violence between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian-Islamic political party with an armed wing of the same name that controls the Gaza Strip.

The tone from Washington to Tel Aviv has grown impatient in recent days as the death toll in Gaza from Israeli air strikes surpassed 200, including more than 100 women and children. In Israel, 12 people were killed by rockets fired by Hamas on Thursday afternoon.

The latest round of fighting was the worst outbreak of violence since the war between Israel and Hamas in 2014.

The White House has followed what it calls “calm, intense diplomacy” behind the scenes.

“We have received over 60 calls from the President downwards to senior leaders in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and other leaders in the region since the conflict began,” White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday.

“The President has been doing this for a long time, for decades, he believes this is the approach we need to take,” she added.

A demolished 6-story building in the Al-Rimal neighborhood houses libraries, youth centers, training courses for university students and a mosque that was bombed by Israeli planes during raids in Gaza City, Gaza, on May 18, 2021.

Momen Faiz | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Biden appeared unwilling to publicly pressure Netanyahu to stop air strikes on what Israel says are military targets embedded in civilian neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip.

As a result, progressive Democrats in Congress and US allies abroad have urged the president to take on a more visible role and put more diplomatic pressure on Israel, which is heavily dependent on the United States for weapons and military equipment.

In Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Netanyahu briefed foreign diplomats and ambassadors on the worsening violence and reiterated previous claims that the Israeli military “is trying to attack” those who attack us with great precision.

“There is no army in the world that does more than the Israeli army, in the Israeli security services and in the Israeli intelligence service to prevent collateral damage,” said Netanyahu.