Israel and Hamas reach new ceasefire agreement

Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement for a ceasefire to end the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and Hamas' indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel.

The CBC described the ceasefire as "open-ended."

If such a description were accurate, it would mark a major milestone in the resolution of the most recent violence, terror and destruction that has plagued the besieged residents of Israel and the Gaza Strip.

One of the major sticking points is obtaining a lasting peace has been the trade blockade Israeli imposed on the Gaza Strip in 2007 after Hamas took power. The restrictions on the movement of people and goods to and from the strip has made economic life in the Palestinian territory exceedingly difficult.

The CBC reports that as a part of the ceasefire, the blockade will be partially lifted to allow in aid supplies and construction materials. Entire neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip have been reduced to rubble and hundreds of thousands have been left homeless. 

Of the nearly 2 million residents in the Gaza Strip, only a few thousand are able to leave the area every month, according to the CBC.

The CBC notes that discussions about the building of an airport and seaport in the strip to further facilitate commerce are set to take place in a month.

The current violence began in early July. It has been punctuated by brief lulls in the fighting after temporary ceasefire agreements were reached in Cairo. Some of these ceasefires were honored until their expiration, while Hamas broke some of the others.

More than 2,100 Palestinians have been killed, around 75 percent of them were civilians. Rockets fired from the Gaza Strip have killed four Israeli civilians, and 64 Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting when Israel briefly occupied the Gaza Strip.