Islamic Hamas movement announced on Sunday that it has agreed with the Palestinian factions to accept a UN-proposed ceasefire for 24 hours in the Gaza Strip.
Israel extended a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for another 24 hours, but Hamas, which dominates the coastal enclave, said it would only accept the truce if Israeli troops left the territory.
Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip agreed to a UN request for a pause in fighting and efforts proceeded to secure a long-term ceasefire moved ahead.
The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday called on the Iranian government to immediately release four detained journalists, three of whom it said had US-Iranian nationality.
Two Palestinians have been killed and around 80 others injured by Israeli fire during confrontations in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian medical sources said.
Iraqi lawmakers on Thursday elected Fuad Masoum as the new president of Iraq, signalling important progress in forming a new government.
Israel apprehended 150 alleged Hamas members overnight Thursday in Gaza, as it widens a 17-day military campaign despite international calls for cease-fire.
Two foreign aid workers were shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Herat city, the provincial capital of western Afghanistan's Herat province on Thursday.
At least 52 prisoners and 10 policemen were killed in a bomb and gunfire attack on a convoy transferring prison inmates near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Thursday morning, a police source said.
A shooting and bombing attack on a bus in Iraq killed 51 prisoners and nine policemen on Thursday, Ministry of Justice and medical sources said.
Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip Thursday entered 17th day without any sign of truce between Israel and Palestine, which prompted the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to launch an inquiry into human rights violations from Israeli military offensive.
The death toll of the Israeli offensive which started on July 8, has mounted to 701, spokesman of the health ministry Ashraf al- Qedra told Xinhua, adding some 4,500 others have been injured.