The UN and US said in a joint statement on Friday in New Delhi that all parties to the conflict between Israel and Gaza had agreed to a three-day humanitarian ceasefire. According to the agreement, hostilities should cease at 8 a.m. local time (0500 UTC) on Friday.

The statement was issued in New Delhi, where US Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting with Indian officials.

"This ceasefire is critical to giving innocent civilians a much-needed reprieve from violence," Kerry said. "During this period, civilians in Gaza will receive urgently needed humanitarian relief, and the opportunity to carry out vital functions, including burying the dead, taking care of the injured, and restocking food supplies."

Pressure on Israel to halt attacks on the Hamas-led Gaza Strip had intensified in recent days, not least since shellfire hit a UN-run school in Gaza where civilians were sheltering from the fighting. The UN and US were both highly critical of the attack.

Hamas on board, ground forces likely to stay

Hamas later indicated that it planned to abide by the truce.

"Acknowledging a call by the United Nations and in consideration of the situation of our people, resistance factions agreed to a 72-hour humanitarian and mutual calm that begins at 8 a.m. on Friday as long as the other side abides by it," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told the Reuters news agency. "All the Palestinian factions are united behind the issue in this regard."

The UN/US statement announcing the halt in fighting said "forces on the ground will remain in place" during the truce, suggesting that Israeli troops could remain in the Gaza Strip.

Kerry said that Egypt had invited representatives from all sides to travel to Cairo for talks seeking a more permanent deal to stop the fighting - a US official accompanying Kerry said these talks could begin as early as Friday.

Security Council appeal

In the mean time, officials appealed for calm in the overnight hours before the truce comes into effect.

"We urge all parties to act with retraint until this humanitarian ceasefire begins, and to fully abide by their commitments during the ceasefire," the statement said.

Earlier on Thursday in New York, the UN Security Council had unanimously expressed "grave disappointment" that calls for a truce in Gaza had not been heeded. The UN's humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos had appealed for an unconditional ceasefire during the four-hour session.

The Security Council did not discuss a draft resolution put forward by Jordan demanding an Israeli withrdrawal from Gaza and an immediate lifting of the blockade isolating the coastal enclave of roughly 1.8 million people.

According to Palestinian emergency services, more than 1,400 people have died since Israeli airstrikes began on July 8. On the Israeli side, 61 soldiers and three civilians - one of them a Thai national - have been killed in the fighting.

msh/jm (AFP, AP, Reuters)