Israel and Hamas agree to ceasefire in Gaza strip

232 Palestinians, including 65 children and 39 women, have been killed since the fighting began 11 days ago.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire across the Gaza Strip border as an official with the Palestinian Islamist faction told Reuters on Thursday that the groups have approved a truce.

The ceasefire will bring a potential halt to the fiercest fighting in the region in decades which has now gone on for 11 days.

Israel's security cabinet said it had voted unanimously in favour of a "mutual and unconditional" Gaza truce proposed by mediator Egypt, however, it is unknown when the truce will come into effect as of yet.

A Hamas official told the publication that a ceasefire would be "mutual and simultaneous".

Since the fighting began on 10 May, health officials in Gaza say 232 Palestinians, including 65 children and 39 women, have been killed.

More than 1,900 Palestinians have been wounded in aerial bombardments. Israel has said that it has killed at least 160 combatants in Gaza.

Meanwhile, authorities put the death toll in Israel at 12, including a five-year-old boy and a soldier.

The fighting was triggered by violence in Jerusalem and Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across the blockaded territory, which is home to more than two million Palestinians.

Thousands of people across the country joined protests in solidarity with Palestine last Saturday, as protesters marched from Dublin City Centre to Ballsbridge, where the Israeli embassy is located on Pembrooke Road. Outside the embassy, protestors gathered in huge numbers waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs calling on the government to expel the Israeli ambassador to Ireland. The protest in Dublin was just one of a number of protests which took place around the country on Saturday, meanwhile, a number of pro-Palestine protests have also taken place internationally in recent days.