Israel said on Wednesday it accepted an Egyptian-brokered truce with Hamas Islamists ruling the Gaza Strip, but voiced scepticism the ceasefire involving all Palestinian militant groups in the territory would hold.
Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defence official, said after returning from talks in Cairo that ”an understanding” had been reached. Egypt and Hamas said on Tuesday a ceasefire would go into effect at 6am local time on Thursday.
Gilad told Israeli media that Israel was prepared to give a ceasefire a chance — while continuing preparations for possible military action should it fall apart.
A ceasefire would aim to end frequent rocket and mortar bomb attacks on Israel from the coastal enclave and Israeli raids and air strikes in the territory.
Israeli and Palestinian officials said under the truce the blockade Israel imposed on the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized the territory a year ago would be loosened gradually and partially.
”Everybody knows the situation in Gaza, where 1,5-million people living there are absolutely miserable,” said Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. ”Our hope is that [the ceasefire] would lead to an easing of those difficult conditions.”
The United States pressed for calm to remove an obstacle in slow-moving peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
A ceasefire could also give Hamas the opportunity to upgrade weaponry and train fighters and boost its popularity among Palestinians if Gaza border crossings reopen.
Meir Sheetrit, Israel’s Interior Minister and a member of its security Cabinet, said he was ”very sceptical” Hamas could enforce a complete ceasefire among the militant groups.
”The idea is a complete ceasefire — no fire from anyone … if there is any violation of the agreement, the government is free to return to act with full force,” Sheetrit said.
The truce does not cover the occupied West Bank. But Abu Hamza, a spokesperson for the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, said the group reserved the right to respond with force ”even from Gaza” to any Israeli raids in the West Bank.
The most recent Gaza ceasefire, in November 2006, broke down quickly.
Hamas leader
In an interview with Reuters in the United Arab Emirates, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said a lasting truce would be good for Gazans who have suffered from the Israeli blockade.
The Damascus-based leader also said any Israeli violation of the deal would not go unanswered.
Mark Regev, a spokesperson for Olmert, said that after a few days of calm, there would be a ”substantial increase” in the amount of supplies that Israel allows into the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arye Mekel said that in the first phase, imports would be set at approximately one-third of the level before the Hamas takeover and the percentage would grow gradually if the truce held.
Israel has cut back on the supply of non-essential goods, such as construction materials, as well as fuel, saying Gazans could not lead normal lives while Israelis were under fire.
Yossi Mekelberg, an associate fellow at London’s Royal Institute of International Affairs, said Israel and Hamas had an interest in making the ceasefire work.
”Hamas … sustained a lot of losses,” Mekelberg said, adding: ”It’s obvious [to Israel] that the military solution doesn’t work. It provides only a partial solution.”
Israeli officials said the reopening of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt — Gazans’ only gateway to the outside world that does not pass through Israel — was conditioned on a deal to free a captured Israeli soldier.
Meshaal said Gilad Shalit, seized two years ago by Gaza gunmen, would not be released unless Israel freed Palestinian prisoners on a list compiled by Hamas. — Reuters