I've been at it for 15 hours now and it's time for me to take a break.
There was a ceasefire for almost 14 hours, which is two hours longer than expected.
Will it continue tonight, or perhaps restart tomorrow? I don't know but I hope so.
The humanitarian ceasefire which began at 8:00am this morning and is to officaiily end at 8:00pm this evening, has gone well so far with only one report of a military incident - possible tank shellfire by the IDF.
I wrote about the first 11 hours of the ceasefire here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
The death toll in Gaza is now well over 1,000 with more than 100 bodies found in the rubble in Gaza so far today.
Of these more than 200 are children and about 200 are women and the elderly.
At least 30 Palestinians, with at least 13 of them children, were killed this morning shortly before the ceasefire began.
The IDF has announced that the Israeli military death toll is now 40, and three civilians have been killed in Israel.
UN envoy Robert Serry is reportedly trying to arrange an extension of the ceasefire which is due to end at 8:00pm.
Separately, the office of the top United Nations envoy in the region, Robert Serry, said he is urging Israel and Hamas to extend the truce by 24 hours.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
There are reports that Hamas considering an extension of the ceasefire.
The BBC reports that a military spokesman has stated that Israel has agreed to a 4-hour extension of the ceasefire.
Israel has agreed to extend a ceasefire in Gaza by four hours to midnight local time (21:00 GMT), a military spokesman tells the BBC.
http://www.bbc.com/...
Until this is confirmed it is still only rumor.
8:05pm Update: The original 12-hour ceasefire has ended.
8:35pm Update: Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post are reporting that shortly after 8:00pm three rockets, no four mortars, no three rockets were fired from Gaza at the Eshkol Regional Council. They are having trouble keeping their story straight.
Haaretz - "rockets fired at south" - 8:03 P.M. Four mortar shells explode in open areas in Eshkol Regional Council.
JPost - 8:11 p.m. Three rockets were fired at the Eshkol Regional Council as the 12 hour cease-fire that began at 8 a.m. on Saturday came to an end.
8:45pm Update: The BBC are reporting that the IDF has stated that three mortars were fired from Gaza shortly after 8:00pm.
The IDF told the BBC that three mortars were fired from Gaza and hit Israel in the Eshkol regional council shortly after 20:00 local time.
While at the same time Aljazeera is reporting that AFP is reporting that the IDF has stated that three rockets were fired from Gaza at that time.
According to Israel army rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza after 12 hours of truce - AFP
9:05pm Update: Other than the "three rockets/four mortars/three mortars/rockets shortly after 8:00pm reports", it seems that the ceasefire has mostly held for the thirteenth hour.
10:05pm Update: The ceasefire seems to have mostly held until near the end of its fourteenth hour.
There are reports that two or three rockets have been fired from Gaza.
This occurred shortly after it was reported that Hamas has rejected the four-hour ceasefire extension of the Israeli government but is open to a 24-hour extension of the ceasefire as proposed by the UN.
The Israeli cabinet will reportedly be meeting soon to discuss the UN's request for a 24-hour ceasefire extension.