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Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas started a 72-hour ceasefire on Friday. The pause in hostilities was the work of America's Secretary of State John Kerry and the U.N. Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon. The truce will give Gazans time to restock on food and medicines. They also need to repair power stations which are out of action because of the fighting. Israelis and Palestinians will also meet in Egypt to talk about the possibility of a permanent truce. They will talk about resolving the big differences that have caused unrest for decades.

Hamas said it would abide by the ceasefire. Its spokesman said the United Nations call and the situation of Palestinians caused all "resistance factions" to agree to "mutual calm". He added that Israel must also abide by it. He said: "All the Palestinian factions are united behind the issue." On Thursday, the Israeli Prime Minister said his country would continue to destroy the tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border. John Kerry called the ceasefire "precious time." He said: "It is a moment for the different factions to be able to come together with the state of Israel."