How long before Hamas breaks this one? Israel agrees to three day cease-fire

Israel has announced that its central goal has been achieved as it withdrew its ground forces from Gaza on August 5, in anticipation of a three-day cease-fire with Hamas, the Palestinian military group.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "Mission accomplished," wrote the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on their twitter account. "We have dismantled the underground terror network built by Hamas to infiltrate and attack Israel."

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The IDF reports that 32 tunnels were destroyed during Gaza operations.

These reports do not ease suspicions on both sides whether the 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire will endure.

This conflict has so far left 1,800 Palestinian dead, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, though it is unclear how many were Hamas militants. The United Nations has estimated that about 70% of the dead are civilians, but the IDF reports that 900 militants were killed.

Officials from Israel have reported that 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed in the fighting.

The cease-fire is Egyptian-brokered, and took effect on the morning of the 5, and IDF is maintaining defensive positions outside of the Gaza strip as allowed for in the truce agreement.

In a brazenly arrogant attack, 20 rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel at 8 a.m., just minutes before the cease-fire went into effect. Six were intercepted by Israel's missile defense system, and at least one hit a Palestinian town in the West Bank without causing any injuries.

This three-day cease-fire is intended to allow the 1.8 million residents of Gaza to go out into the streets to gather supplies and check on abandoned homes.

This weeks old conflict has displaced more than 200,000 people across the strip and for the first time, the start of the cease-fire marked a decrease in people in U.N. shelters.

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