CAIRO: Egypt said it was close to hammering out a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants to end Gaza violence that has overshadowed peacemaking efforts, but Israel on Wednesday played down talk of a deal.
Egyptian state media had announced that Israel agreed in principle to a truce in and around Gaza, but Israeli officials neither confirmed nor denied such an agreement, saying the talks were continuing.
Israeli leaders (have informed us) of their support for and understanding of the Egyptian proposals for a truce, Egypt s official MENA news agency quoted a senior official as saying on Tuesday.
Israel says it is ready to implement it as soon as Israeli leaders have been notified of the agreement of Palestinian organizations to parts of the truce proposals, the official added, without giving his name.
He called on Palestinian groups to respond positively to the Israeli move, saying they should not pass up this historic opportunity.
But Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel told AFP that the question is to know whether there will be a calming of violence in the Gaza Strip, and for the time being, nothing is concluded and nothing is agreed to. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert s spokesman Mark Regev said that we can only indicate that contacts are continuing.
Israel s Haaretz daily said the Jewish state was awaiting a detailed Egyptian response concerning Palestinian positions by the end of the week.
The announcement came after a day of renewed bloodshed in the territory controlled by Hamas since last June with four people being killed in Israeli air raids, one of them a 13-year-old boy.
Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman, who has acted as go-between in the negotiations between Israel and the militants, on Tuesday conveyed the Israeli offer to a delegation from Hamas.
A broader meeting of Palestinian factions is planned to discuss the modalities of the next phase and the start of implementation with intensified efforts by Egypt to resolve the two issues of an exchange of prisoners…and the complete lifting of the blockade, MENA said.
Suleiman presented Egypt s initial proposals to Israeli leaders on May 12 after securing the endorsement of 12 Palestinian factions.
But Israeli officials made their agreement conditional on progress in negotiations for the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants for almost two years since his capture in a deadly cross-border raid.
Hamas has been insisting that Shalit s freedom is an entirely separate issue from the proposed truce and has been demanding the release of some 450 Palestinians from Israeli jails in exchange.
The group has also been demanding the lifting of an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed after it seized power almost a year ago.
They have been demanding in particular the reopening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, Gaza s only one that bypasses Israel, which previously operated in accordance with an international agreement between Abbas and the Jewish state that also involved the European Union.
After talks with President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that continued rocket fire from Gaza would risk triggering a major ground offensive against the territory.
Barak also demanded an end to what Israel says is persistent weapons smuggling by Palestinian militant groups from Egypt into Gaza.
At least 474 people have been killed since Israel and the Palestinian leadership relaunched peace talks at a US-hosted conference in November, the vast majority of them Palestinians, according to an AFP count. -AFP
