Gaza Truce Awaiting Israel Approval as Arab FMs Visit Gaza in Solidarity
Egyptian and Hamas officials said they believed they could reach an agreement to end the week-long Gaza conflict on Tuesday but a truce hinged on Israeli assent to a Cairo-mediated ceasefire plan, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in the region to make an urgent push for peace.
The emerging signs of a deal to end seven days of violence that have claimed the lives of 136 Palestinians came as the Israeli army confirmed its first two fatalities from rocket attacks while another missile landed harmlessly just south of Jerusalem.
Optimistic negotiators had initially said that a deal could be announced in Cairo later Tuesday following days of negotiations brokered by an Egyptian government that is keen to make sure the unrest does not spill over to its volatile Sinai territory.
"There will be a joint press conference between Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the Egyptian mediators tonight to announce the truce," an Islamic Jihad source told Agence France Presse in Gaza City. A Hamas source separately confirmed the announcement.
But Hamas later said in a statement that Israel had still not responded to the Palestinian proposal as of 22:00 pm (2000 GMT).
"No agreement has been reached until now and it might not happen tonight. All options are open. Our people and the resistance are ready for anything," Hamas leader Izzat al-Rishq tweeted.
A senior Egyptian official said there were strong hopes the agreement would be reached overnight, depending on whether Israel gave its assent to the proposal.
Another Egyptian source close to the negotiations said "up to this point there is no final decision."
"Egypt has sent the final proposal... and we are waiting for the final Israeli response," he said. "If there is agreement on this it means we are close to announcing a ceasefire."
A third Egyptian official told Agence France Presse that "the truce announcement is not expected tonight because we are still waiting for a response" from Israel.
An Israeli diplomatic source told AFP that negotiations were ongoing.
"We are working very hard using our diplomatic channels. We are working continuously. But I cannot give you an estimated time of arrival (of a truce)," the source said.
Hamas officials said the indirect negotiations were ongoing, but spoke of a breakthrough.
"Hamas confirms that until now, it has not received the Israeli response and asks all media not to rush," Sami Abu Zuhri, the movement's spokesman in Gaza, said in a statement.
He added the Egyptian presidency would make the definitive announcement of an agreement.
A senior Hamas official told AFP "the agreement is expected to crystallize in a few hours."
The main sticking point, he said, was whether Israel would begin easing its six-year long blockade of the Gaza Strip coinciding with the truce or at a later date.
"A compromise solution is for there to be agreement on lifting the siege, and that it would be implemented later at a specified time," he said.
An aide to Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, who is in Cairo for truce talks, said the movement which rules the Palestinian territory was "still waiting for the Israeli response."
Hamas officials said they wanted Israel to lift its six-year-long blockade of the enclave if they were to agree an end to the week-long conflict that has killed 136 Palestinians and five Israelis.
The senior Hamas official said Israel had agreed in principle to easing the blockade.
Earlier on Tuesday, Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi said Israel's "aggression" against Gaza would end on Tuesday and Cairo-mediated truce efforts would produce results within hours, the official MENA news agency reported.
"The farce of the Israeli aggression will end today, Tuesday, and the efforts to reach a ceasefire between the Palestinians and Israelis will produce positive results within a few hours," it quoted him as saying.
But Morsi's spokesman later toned down that optimism by explaining that Cairo "hopes there will be a settlement soon."
The bloodshed meanwhile showed no signs of abating as the Israeli military pressed on with its bombardment of northern Gaza positions from which most of the militants' rockets have been launched.
The Israelis for their part lost two soldiers to rocket attacks that continued unabated for the seventh day. The army said nearly 800 rockets have hit Israeli territory since the worst outbreak of Gaza violence in four years broke out last Wednesday.
The incessant Israeli bombing killed another 26 Palestinians on Tuesday in attacks that also claimed the lives of two cameramen of the Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV station.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said flatly on Tuesday that it was time for Hamas -- the Islamist movement which rules Gaza -- to choose between peace and further bloodshed.
"Our hand is outstretched in peace to those of our neighbors who want to make peace with us," Israel's rightwing premier said in a statement. "And the other hand is firmly grasping the sword of David."
Netanyahu and his key ministers decided in a closed-door meeting late Monday to place "a temporary hold on a ground incursion to give diplomacy a chance to succeed," a senior Israeli official told AFP.
The move came as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met Netanyahu and again urged all parties to end fire "immediately".
The flurry of diplomatic activity has also seen U.S. Secretary of State Clinton cut short an Asia tour to head to Israel where she arrived late Tuesday for talks with Netanyahu.
The chief U.S. diplomat was due to travel to the West Bank capital Ramallah on Wednesday and also visit Cairo for an expected meeting with Morsi -- seen as one of the most influential negotiators in the current conflict.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Tuesday led a solidarity visit to Gaza.
Arabi said that the world should focus on ending the Israeli occupation instead of finding a truce to the current violence.
"The real problem is not a truce," he told reporters in Gaza.
"The real problem that the Arab and Islamic countries and all friendly countries in the world must focus on is ending the occupation," the Arab League chief said.
The comments came as representatives from more than 10 Arab nations came to Gaza from Egypt to show their support for the Hamas government amid Israel's seven-day air assault and discussions of a possible ground invasion.
A Hamas official said the group included representatives from countries including Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, and the foreign minister of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
The Arab League's deputy secretary general told AFP earlier that the trip aimed "to express Arab solidarity and support for the steadfastness of the people and Gaza".
In New York meanwhile diplomats said the United States had blocked an Arab-sponsored statement on the Gaza conflict at the U.N. Security Council because it was "counter-productive" to the truce efforts.
Source: Agence France Presse
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