Israel, Gaza close to ceasefire

Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are close to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, a report said Saturday, citing a high-level Israeli source.

According to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, an unnamed senior political figure leaked that a deal was in the making between Israel and the Gazan administration to allow Qatar to provide the enclave with funds to pay its civil servants as well as fuel.

The source added that the Israeli side would audit the funds to ensure they were not being used for “terror activities”.

Since Palestinians began holding regular rallies along the buffer zone on March 30, more than 200 protesters have been killed and thousands more injured.

Demonstrators demand the right to return to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.