2014年CRI 台湾高雄燃气爆炸20死270伤 以色列与哈马斯同意加沙地区停火72小时（在线收听）

At least 20 people have been killed and some 270 others injured in a series of explosions in the city of Kaohsiung in Taiwan.

A massive underground gas leak last night set off a series of explosions which have ripped gaping holes around a 3-square kilometer area along the city's southwest waterfront district.

Several firefighters are among the dead.

Kaohsiung's mayor is describing the incident as the worst the city has seen in decades.

The cause of the gas leak and subsequent explosions hasn't been determined at this point.

No casualties are being reported following an explosion which ripped through a chemical plant in the city of Changzhou in the Yangtze River Delta.

The explosion took place last night, almost two-hours after a fire first broke out at the plant.

The initial fire at the plant did force the evacuation of nearby residents.

It hasn't been made clear what type of chemicals the factory was producing.

The fire has since been contained, and an investigation into the cause of the fire and explosion is getting underway.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip starting later on this Friday.

Despite the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to destroy Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip "with or without a cease-fire."

The Israeli military has called up another 16-thousand reservists to bolster its current offensive.

Since the launch of Operation Protective Edge by the Israeli military last month, over 14-hundred Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians.

Close to 60 Israeli soldiers have also been killed in the offensive.