Hamas and Palestinian militant groups have agreed to temporarily halt rocket attacks and other forms of offensive operations against Israel on Thursday, to give way to United Nations humanitarian operations inside Gaza City.

Earlier Wednesday night, Israel declared it will order the Israel Defense Force (IDF) to pause and let the humanitarian mission proceed, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time (0700 to 1200 GMT). But it warned that it will respond with force if any rockets are fired from Hamas locations into Israel during the humanitarian window.

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This becomes the first bilateral pause in the fighting that started a little over a week ago and had resulted in 223 Palestinian deaths.

One fatality has been recorded on the Israeli side, a civilian male doing volunteer work for the IDF who was critical wounded in a rocket explosion Tuesday and died later in a hospital.

On Tuesday, the Israel halted airstrikes on Hamas targets for six hours in deference to an Egyptian proposal to open the door for peace negotiations.

During those six hours, Hamas militants launched 27 rockets into Israel.

This led the Israelis to resume the airstrikes later in the day.

Hamas leaders declared they did not approve of the Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire call because it did not reach them formally, and did not offer a more lasting solution to the precarious situation Gaza's 1.5 million residents are in.

This time, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zhuri said they will cease offensive operations, but will respond to any Israeli attacks during the humanitarian pause.

TagsIsrael, Hamas, IDF