Israel and the Palestinians agreed on an open-ended ceasefire that began at 7pm on Tuesday, prompting some Palestinians to take to the streets to celebrate, and raising wary hopes of an end to the seven-week-old war between the Israeli military and Hamas.

On Tuesday evening Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, announced the truce - the latest of several brokered by Egypt aimed at ending the conflict in the Gaza Strip – in a brief television address. He thanked Egypt, Qatar – Hamas’ main foreign patron – and John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, for their role in arranging the ceasefire.

“We have accepted once again the Egyptian proposal for an unconditional ceasefire,” a senior Israeli official told the Financial Times. “This ceasefire is unlimited in time, as was the original proposal that we accepted on July 15.”