Israeli army withdraws armoured vehicles from Gaza border area

2014-08-27 252

ROUGH CUT. NO REPORTER NARRATION.

The Israeli army has started withdrawing armoured vehicles from positions near the Gaza border, as a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians holds.

The Egyptian-mediated truce took effect on Tuesday evening.

The agreement calls for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean.

A second stage of the truce scheduled to take effect next month calls for Israel and the Palestinians to discuss the construction of a Gaza sea port and Israel's release of Hamas prisoners in the occupied West Bank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong criticism in his country's newspapers over a campaign in which no clear victor emerged.

Israel said it dealt a strong blow to Hamas, killing several of its military leaders and destroying its cross-border infiltration tunnels.

Palestinian healt