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Israel comes under mortar fire after truce extension

Earlier, Israel agreed to extend a 12-hour humanitarian truce by four hours

TEL AVIV, July 26, 21:53 /ITAR-TASS/. Israel has come under mortar fire minutes after a 12-hour humanitarian truce was extended, the Israeli army’s press service said on Saturday.

No reports on casualties have been available yet.

The Hamas movement declines to elaborate.

Earlier, Israel agreed to extend a 12-hour humanitarian truce by four hours, until midnight (2100 GMT), Israeli television says.

The efforts taken by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon helped to extend the ceasefire in Gaza. Kerry also took part in a meeting of foreign ministers of seven nations in Paris to persuade the conflicting parties to extend the truce.

Israeli-Palestinian relations grew sour after June 12, 2014, when three Jewish teenagers were abducted in the West Bank. Later the teenagers were found killed. Israel accused militants of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement), which controls the Gaza Strip, of committing the crime.

On July 8, 2014, the Israel Defense Forces announced the start of the operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip against Hamas militants.