Both sides said they would halt hostilities at 7 30 p.m. Sunday, and about that time, the explosions that had been heard regularly in the capital largely stopped.
"Australia continues to call on all parties to immediately honour their commitments to halt hostilities and to begin an inclusive, peaceful political dialogue," she said in a statement.
Here's a roundup of the latest developments: Israel and Hamas agreed to a UN request to halt hostilities for five hours on humanitarian grounds.
After signing, both sides agreed to issue immediate orders to halt hostilities, prompting applause from delegates and a mediation team led by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.
In one of the conflict's most famous episodes, troops fighting on the Western front halted hostilities to play a game in no-man's land and later posed for pictures and exchanged gifts on Christmas Day 1914.
The plan was to halt hostilities, allow humanitarian groups access to combat zones, and – crucially, given that elections in the world's youngest state have been postponed until at least 2017 – start planning for a transitional government.
The 4-kilometer-wide, 248-kilometer-long DMZ has been a no-man's land since an armistice halted hostilities in 1953.
"More than ever," he said, "we need to halt hostilities and allow unhindered access to humanitarian aid".
In February, major warring parties agreed to halt hostilities as part of a similar U.S.-Russia brokered ceasefire.
