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ByIanDeitch The Associated Press JERUSALEM Israel and Hamas have agreed to a 72- hour humanitarian cease- fire beginning Friday, dur- ing which time there will be negotiations on a more du- rable truce in the 24-day- old Gaza war, the United States and United Nations announced Thursday. The announcement came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- tanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas' tunnel network "with or without a cease- fire" and as the Palestinian death toll soared past 1,400. There was no immediate Is- raeli comment on the an- nouncement. In a statement released in New Delhi where Sec- retary of State John Kerry is traveling, the U.S. and U.N. said they had gotten assurances that all parties to the conflict had agreed to an unconditional cease- fire. "This humanitarian cease-fire will commence at 8 a.m. local time on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014. It will last for a period of 72 hours unless extended. During this time the forces on the ground will remain in place," the statement said. "We urge all parties to act with restraint until this humanitarian cease-fire be- gins, and to fully abide by their commitments during the cease-fire." The statement said the cease-fire was critical to give civilians a much- needed reprieve from vio- lence. During this period, civilians in Gaza will re- ceive humanitarian relief and have time to bury the dead, take care of the in- jured and restock food sup- plies. The time also will be used to repair water and en- ergy infrastructure. At least four short hu- manitarian cease-fires have been announced since the conflict began, but each has been broken by renewed fighting. Earlier, the Israeli mili- tary said it was calling up an additional 16,000 re- serve soldiers to pursue its campaign against the Is- lamic militants. At least 1,441 Palestin- ians have been killed, three- quarters of them civilians, since hostilities began on July 8, according to Gaza health officials — surpass- ing the at least 1,410 Pales- tinians killed in Israel's last major invasion in 2009, ac- cording to Palestinian rights groups. Israel says 56 soldiers, two Israeli civilians and a Thai agricultural worker have died — far more than the 13 Israeli deaths in the previous campaign. In Geneva, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay accused both Israel and Hamas mil- itants of violating the rules of war. She said Hamas is violat- ing international human- itarian law by "locating rockets within schools and hospitals, or even launching these rockets from densely populated areas." But she added that this did not ab- solve Israel from disregard- ing the same law. The Israeli government, she said, has defied inter- national law by attacking civilian areas of Gaza such as schools, hospitals, homes and U.N. facilities. "None of this appears to me to be ac- cidental," Pillay said. "They appear to be defying — de- liberate defiance of — obli- gations that international law imposes on Israel." Pillay also took aim at the U.S., Israel's main ally, for providing financial support for Israel's "Iron Dome" anti-rocket defense system. "No such protec- tion has been provided to Gazans against the shell- ing," she said. The Iron Dome system has been credited with saving countless lives as Hamas militants fired nearly 3,000 rockets at Is- rael since hostilities began. At the United Nations, Israel's Ambassador Ron Prosor responded to criti- cism of his country, saying: "I think the international community should be very vocal in standing with Is- rael fighting terrorism to- day because if not, you will see it on your doorstep to- morrow." Israel expanded what started as an aerial cam- paign against Hamas and widened it into a ground offensive on July 17. Since then, Israel says the cam- paign has concentrated on destroying cross-bor- der tunnels militants con- structed to carry out at- tacks inside Israeli territory and ending rocket attacks on its cities. Israel says most of the 32 tunnels it uncovered have now been demolished and that getting rid of the re- mainder will take no more than a few days. "We have neutralized dozens of terror tunnels and we are committed to complete this mission, with or without a cease-fire," Ne- tanyahu said Thursday in televised remarks. "There- fore, I will not agree to any offer that does not allow the military to complete this important mission for the security of the people of Israel." For Israel, the tunnel net- work is a strategic threat. It says the tunnels are meant to facilitate mass attacks on civilians and soldiers inside Israel, as well as kidnap- pings, a tactic that Hamas has used in the past. Pales- tinian militants trying to sneak into Israel through the tunnels have been found with sedatives and hand- cuffs, an indication they were planning abductions, the military says. Several soldiers have been killed in the current round of fighting by Pales- tinian gunmen who popped out of underground tunnels near Israeli communities along the Gaza border. Israeli defense officials said the purpose of the lat- est call-up of 16,000 re- serves was to provide re- lief for troops currently on the Gaza firing line, and amounted to a rotation that left the overall num- ber of mobilized reserv- ists at around 70,000. They spoke on condition of ano- nymity in line with regula- tions. However, Israeli officials have also said they do not rule out broadening oper- ations in the coming days. Palestinians have fired more than 2,850 rockets at Israel — some reaching major cities but most inter- cepted by the Iron Dome defense system. On Thurs- day alone, more than 100 rockets were fired toward Israeli cities, the army said. One Israeli was seriously wounded when a rocket ex- ploded in a residential area of Kiryat Gat in southern Is- rael, the military said. The rocket damaged a house and destroyed several cars parked on the street. An- other rocket was inter- cepted over Tel Aviv by Isra- el's rocket defense system, the army said. Israeli attacks continued Thursday, killing at least 56 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. Gazans said munitions struck the Omar Ibn al- Khatab mosque next to a U.N. school in the northern town of Beit Lahiya. The of- fice of the military spokes- man said Palestinian snip- ers inside the mosque had shot at troops, wound- ing one Israeli soldier and prompting retaliatory fire. The strike in Beit Lahiya damaged water tanks on the roof of a building near the mosque, sending shrap- nel flying into the adjacent school compound, where dozens of Palestinians dis- placed by the fighting had taken shelter. "The shrapnel from the strike on the mosque hit people who were in the street and at the entrance of the school," said Sami Salebi, an area resident. Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said at least 15 people were wounded in the strike, including three who were in critical condi- tion. WORLD US,UNannouncedealon72-hourGazacease-fire HATEMMOUSSA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Smoke rises a er an Israeli strike hit the offices of the Hamas movement's Al-Aqsa satellite TV station, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, on Thursday. By Clarence Roy- Macaulay The Associated Press FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE Security forces went house- to-house in Sierra Leone's capital Thursday looking for Ebola patients and oth- ers exposed to the disease as the death toll from the worst recorded outbreak in history surpassed 700 in West Africa. U.S. health officials urged Americans not to travel to the three countries hit by the medical crisis: Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Almost half of the 57 new deaths reported by the World Health Organization occurred in Liberia, where two Americans, Dr. Kent Brantly of Texas and Nancy Writebol, a North Carolina- based missionary, are also sick with Ebola. Writebol is in stable but serious condition and is re- ceiving an experimental treatment that doctors hope will better address her con- dition, according to a state- ment released by SIM, a Christian missions organi- zation. Her husband, David, is close by but can only visit his wife through a window or dressed in a haz-mat suit, the statement said. "There was only enough (of the experimental serum) for one person. Dr. Brantly asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol," said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse, an- other aid organization that has been working in Libe- ria during the Ebola crisis. Brantly, who works for the aid group, did re- ceive a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who had survived Ebola because of the doctor's care, Graham said in a statement. "The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor who saved his life," he said. Giving a survivor's blood to a patient might be aimed at seeing whether any anti- bodies the survivor made to the virus could help some- one else fight off the infec- tion. This approach has been tried in previous Ebola out- breaks with mixed results. No further details were provided on the experimen- tal treatment. There is cur- rently no licensed drug or vaccine for Ebola, and pa- tients can only be given sup- portive care to keep them hydrated. There are a hand- ful of experimental drug and vaccine candidates for Ebola and while some have had promising results in animals including mon- keys, none has been rigor- ously tested in humans. The disease has con- tinued to spread through bodily fluids as sick people remain out in the commu- nity and cared for by rel- atives without protective gear. People have become ill from touching sick fam- ily members and in some cases from soiled linens. In Sierra Leone, which borders Liberia to the northwest, authorities are vowing to quarantine all those at home who have re- fused to go to isolation cen- ters. Many families have kept relatives at home to pray for their survival in- stead of bringing them to clinics that have had a 60 percent fatality rate. Those in the throngs of death can bleed from their eyes, mouth and ears. Rosa Crestani, Ebola emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Bor- ders, also known as Mede- cins Sans Frontieres, said it is "crucial" at this point to gain the trust of communi- ties that have been afraid to let health workers in and to deploy more medical staff. "The declaration of a state of emergency in Sierra Leone shows a recognition of the gravity of the situa- tion, but we do not yet know what this will mean on the ground. What we can say is that it will be difficult to im- plement due to the fact that the cases are dispersed over such a large area, and that we currently do not have a clear picture of where all the hotspots are," she said. Liberia's president on Wednesday also instituted new measures aimed at halting the spread of Eb- ola, including shutting down schools and ordering most public servants to stay home from work. "It could be helpful for the government to have powers to isolate and quar- antine people and it's cer- tainly better than what's been done so far," said Dr. Heinz Feldmann, chief of vi- rology at U.S. National In- stitute of Allergy and Infec- tious Diseases. "Whether it works, we will have to wait and see." DISEASE W. Africa Ebola outbreak tops 700 deaths ABBAS DULLEH — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A man washes his hands before entering a public building as part of a drive to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus in the city of Monrovia, Liberia, on Thursday. N EWS D AILY REDBLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 PHONE: (530)527-2151 FAX: (530) 527-5774 545 Diamond Avenue • P.O. Box 220 • Red Bluff, CA 96080 Support our classrooms, keep kids reading. 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