The British government will suspend the sale of some military equipment to Israel if the ceasefire in Gaza is broken.

The Government identified 12 licences for components which could be part of equipment used by Israel in its attacks on Gaza. As it would be difficult to clarify Israel’s use of the components, the Government will suspend the 12 licences if there is a resumption of fighting.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said: “We welcome the current ceasefire in Gaza and hope that it will lead to a peaceful resolution. However the UK Government has not been able to clarify if the export licence criteria are being met. In light of that uncertainty we have taken the decision to suspend these existing export licences in the event of a resumption of significant hostilities. No new licences for military equipment have been issued for use by the Israeli Defence Force during the review period and as a precautionary measure this approach will continue until hostilities cease.”

The ceasefire appeared to hold although Israel warned that agreement is uncertain.

“Operation Protective Edge is not over yet and it is not clear whether until Wednesday at midnight we will reach [agreement] with Hamas,” defence minister Moshe Yaalon was quoted by Israel Radio as saying. “It is possible the fire will erupt again.”

In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Show all 18 1 /18 In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict A Palestinian woman uses a piece of reebar she found amid the rubble, for support as she walks past destroyed homes in a street in Beit Hanun, northern Gaza Getty Images In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict Palestinian men wait for their names to be called to receive a ration of food aid at a UN compound in Gaza City Getty Images In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict Posters calling people to boycott Israeli products Getty Images In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict Residents of a neighborhood in Gaza City gather to put out a fire at a soap factory moments after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict A Palestinian, who was injured in clashes in the Gaza strip, is carried on a stretcher to an ambulance after the arrival of a group of injured Palestinians at Ankara's Esenboga airport In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict A Palestinian, who was injured in clashes in the Gaza strip, is carried on a stretcher to an ambulance after the arrival of a group of injured Palestinians at Ankara's Esenboga airport In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict Firefighters try to extinguish a fire that witnesses say was caused by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Israel has accepted a new Gaza ceasefire proposed by Egyptian mediators and will send negotiators to Cairo if the truce holds, Israeli officials said In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict Smoke from fires caused by Israeli strikes rises over Gaza City In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict People watch as a fire burns in a building that witnesses say was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict Palestinian fire fighters extinguish a blaze at a soap factory moments after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict Palestinian firefighters try to put out the fire at a cleaning materials factory after it was hit by Israeli airstrike in Al-Meena neghbourhood in the west of Gaza City In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict Palestinians react as they put out a fire in an apartment which witnesses said was hit by an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict A relative kisses the body of Palestinian Nader Driss, whom medics said died of a gunshot wound by Israeli troops during clashes at a protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza, during his funeral in the West Bank City of Hebron In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict Relatives of Palestinian woman Amani Baraka, whom medics said was killed in an Israeli air strike, mourn during her funeral in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict A Palestinian boy, whom medics said was wounded by Israeli shelling, is visited by members of a local aid society wearing costumes at a hospital in Gaza City In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict Jamal Doghmosh, a 48-year-old Palestinian mechanic who was injured in an Israeli air strike, recuperates at Shifa hospital in Gaza City. When Doghmosh woke up in hospital after the attack, he could not hear properly and found that three fingers from his right hand were also gone. He is one of thousands of Palestinians who have been left physically disabled by the conflict with Israel in the Gaza Strip In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict An injured Palestinian man from the Al-Elaa family sits inside his house after it was hit by an Israeli military strike in the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict - summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict A view of the living room of the Okasha family house destroyed by an Israeli strike, in Jebaliya refugee camp, Gaza Strip. Two female members of the family were critically wounded in the strike

Reuters reported from Cairo that Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzouk described the talks brokered by Egypt as “difficult,” a view that was echoed by Khaled Batsh, the leader of the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad group.

In Gaza and southern Israel, a 72 hour truce to enable the negotiations towards a lasting ceasefire held for the second straight day. But it was set to expire at midnight Wednesday unless it is extended.

For agreement to be reached, each side will have to give up its plans of vanquishing the other at the negotiations table so as to claim a clear victory in the month old war, which left 1,938 Gazans and 67 Israelis dead and destroyed thousands of homes in the Strip. Most of the fatalities in Gaza were civilians. Hamas rocket attacks caused few casualties due to an aerial defence system, but disrupted life in much of Israel.

Hamas demanded the complete lifting of Israeli and Egyptian border strictures that cripple the Gaza economy and approval for a sea port and airport to link the coastal enclave to the outside world. Israel had demanded the disarming of Hamas and other militant groups.

According to the Israeli news agency Ynet, Israel has essentially dropped the latter demand and it has agreed to double the number of trucks entering Gaza, extend the coastal area in which the Strip's fishermen can work and to allow some 40,000 Hamas government employees to be paid via a third party. Even though this would appear to leave Israel's overall system of strictures in place, the reported concessions were criticized by the Jewish Home party, a far right coalition partner. “The money will be passed on to terrorists who dig [tunnels] underneath us, to missile producers and to those who shoot at us,” said Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennet. “This is a type of quiet in exchange for terrorism money and will leave Israel facing a Hamas that grows stronger.”



Meanwhile, Israel sought to launch a pre-emptive strike against an impending UN probe of the actions of its military during the Gaza fighting, saying its chairman is biased against the Jewish state and that its findings “have already been written”. Reacting to news that William Schabas, a Canadian professor of international law, has been appointed by the UN human rights council to head the inquiry, foreign ministry official Paul Hirschson said “the odds are we won't be cooperating with the inquiry. Its credibility is low.”

Mr Schabas has called in the past for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former president Shimon Peres to face trial at the International Criminal Court. He also praised the Goldstone report, issued in 2009 after an earlier devastating Israeli military campaign in Gaza. The report accused the Israeli Army and Palestinian militants of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity and concluded that Israel gravely breached the Fourth Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, a finding later retracted by its chairman Richard Goldstone but not before Israel suffered a major diplomatic and public relations setback. The retraction was rejected by the three other members of the fact finding committee.