"Israel has agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire from 7:00 a.m. Saturday," said the US official traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry, who was leaving Cairo without securing a longer ceasefire deal between the Israeli regime and Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Friday.

The announcement came immediately after the Israeli cabinet rejected another proposal by Kerry which would have involved a ceasefire followed by negotiations.

For his part, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that Hamas and all other militant factions in the Gaza Strip had also agreed to the humanitarian ceasefire.

The Israeli cabinet previously said it wanted a ceasefire that would allow its troops to remain inside Gaza in order to destroy tunnels, which it insists that Palestinian resistance fighters to strike Israeli troops across the border.

Hamas, meanwhile, has previously insisted that it would accept a ceasefire that included a lifting of Israel's eight-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which prevents imports, exports, and the movement of people and has crippled the coastal territory's economy.

The announcement of the ceasefire came amid continued carnage in Gaza on Friday, where the death toll surpassed 865 with more than 5,730 injured in 18 days of Israeli assault.

Some 35 Israeli troopers have been killed by Palestinian fighters in the same time, along with three others.

NTJ/MB