On Tuesday, a Hamas official based in Gaza said that a cease-fire has been reached between Palestine and Israel.

"An agreement has been reached between the two sides, and we are awaiting the announcement from Cairo to determine the zero hour for implementation," the spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said according to Reuters.

An official announcement is expected to be made some time Tuesday in Egypt, where the cease-fire was negotiated.

The cease-fire puts an end to a war that has lasted seven weeks and resulted in the death of over 2,000 people, The Associated Press reports.

An anonymous official said that under the deal, an "open-ended" cease-fire is confirmed. In addition, Israel has agreed to diminish its blockade of Gaza. This will permit supplies, such as relief and construction materials, to enter the area.

In a month, further discussions will be made. Amongst them will be consideration for the Hamas demand to have the Gaza seaport and airport re-opened.

The agreement comes after 15 Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and the Israeli bombing of two high-rises in Gaza City on Tuesday, Fox News reports. One building collapsed, which damaged another building.

"In the past, the military has hit targets in high-rises in pinpoint strikes, but left the buildings standing," Fox News said. "However, since Saturday, it has toppled or destroyed five towers and shopping complexes in an apparent new tactic aimed at increasing pressure on the Hamas militant group."

According to Mkhaimar Abu Sada, a political scientist from Al Azhar University in Gaza, Israel was hoping to put pressure on Hamas by harming its middle class areas.

"Some people will now be wondering why Hamas did not accept a cease-fire proposal during the first week of the fighting, when the damage here was still relatively small," he said.

"I have no doubt that these buildings were hit primarily because they contained offices or other facilities that belonged to Hamas," said Shlomo Brom, a former Israeli air force brigadier general and current fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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