JERUSALEM — Israel confirmed today that a cease-fire with the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip will begin Thursday.
If the fighting indeed ceases, Israel will next week agree to ease the blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israeli defense officials said.
In tandem with the easements, talks on efforts to release an Israeli soldier held by Hamas will be intensified, the officials said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the talks.
Egypt, the mediator of the talks, announced the agreement Tuesday, saying it will begin 6 a.m. Thursday (9 tonight MDT). Hamas confirmed the deal shortly afterward.
As part of the deal, Egypt has committed to stop the smuggling of arms and weapons into the Gaza Strip, the officials said. A U.S. military engineering corps is slated to aid the Egyptian efforts, the officials said.
If Israel determines that Egyptian anti-smuggling efforts are serious, then Hamas, Egypt and European officials will begin talks on the opening the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, the officials said.
But the phased approach is prone to pitfalls, and past truces have quickly broken down. Israel cautiously promised a “new reality” if the rocket fire ends.
The announcement capped months of Egyptian-brokered negotiations that have been repeatedly marred by violence. The deal was first announced in Cairo by Egypt’s state-run news agency and quickly confirmed by Hamas. However, Hamas said it would respond to any Israeli attacks.
Underscoring the fragile situation, Israeli aircraft attacked three targets in southern Gaza, killing six Palestinian militants, Gaza medical officials said. In response, Palestinian militants fired seven rockets into Israel, the Israeli military said.
Still, after months of fighting, both sides seemed interested in a period of calm.
Israel seeks rocket halt
Israel wants to halt the incessant rocket and mortar attacks on its southern communities that have killed seven Israelis over the past year.
Israeli reprisals have killed more than 400 Palestinians, many of them civilians, according to an Associated Press tally based on figures from hospital officials.
Israel also wants an end to Hamas arms smuggling into Gaza from Egypt, and the return of Cpl. Gilad Schalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-linked militants in a cross-border raid two years ago.
Hamas wants Israel to lift its crippling blockade of Gaza, which has led to widespread shortages of fuel, electricity and basic goods.
Israel imposed the sanctions after Hamas violently seized control of Gaza last year, and has tightened the blockade recently in response to increased rocket fire.
Gaza Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said all the armed factions in Gaza are on board with the truce.
Weapons stay ready
Speaking after another Hamas official outlined details of the truce at a news conference, Zahar said Hamas will not put down its weapons, because he did not believe Israel would implement the cease-fire.
“We don’t trust them, but let’s see,” he said.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that any deal would be met warily. “Even when it (a truce) begins, if it does, it is hard to evaluate how long it would last,” he said. “The Israeli military is ready for any development.”
Past informal cease-fires with Hamas, most recently in November 2006, lasted only several weeks. They were never formally signed because Hamas and Israel do not recognize each other.
Israel and the Palestinians declared a truce in February 2005. Hamas, which killed scores of Israelis in suicide bombings, largely abided by the cease-fire until June 2006.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a rival of Hamas, welcomed the accord.
“President Abbas considers the (truce) as a national interest for our people,” said a statement from his West Bank office.
In Washington, the State Department said it was supportive of efforts to bring calm to Gaza and southern Israel while insisting that Hamas remains a terrorist organization.
“We believe that establishing calm in Gaza and elsewhere is a good thing, and we’re supportive of Egyptian efforts and other efforts to achieve this,” deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.
“But saying you have a loaded gun to my head but you are not going to fire it today is far different than taking the gun down, locking it up and saying you’re not going to use it again,” he said. “Even if this is in fact a true report, it hardly takes Hamas out of the terrorism business.”
Egyptian, Israeli and Hamas officials all said the talks would quickly move to the larger issues of the blockade and Schalit, the captive soldier.
An Egyptian official told The Associated Press that the idea is for the truce to last six months.
