Brussels - The European Commission on Wednesday welcomed the announcement of a truce between Israel and Hamas, the radical Islamic movement that rules the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

"We welcome the news of the truce and we appreciate Egypt's efforts to broker it. We look forward to the truce coming into force tomorrow," said a spokesman for the EU's executive.

The Egyptian-proposed ceasefire was due to take effect at 6 am (0300 GMT) Thursday. (dpa)