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Hamas Agrees to 24-Hour Cease-Fire to Let Aid Enter (Update1) Email | Print | A A A

By Saud Abu Ramadan and David Wainer

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The Islamic militant group and other armed Palestinian factions in the agreed to halt rocket and mortar fire into for 24 hours so that an Egyptian convoy can deliver food donated to the territory.

Hamas accepted a request from Egyptian mediators to observe the cease-fire after refusing to extend a six-month truce that expired last week, Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said. The Israeli Defense Ministry declined to comment immediately on whether it would allow the Egyptian trucks to cross into Gaza.

“The Egyptians contacted us earlier today and asked us to stop attacks on Israel for 24 hours to allow in 80 trucks full of food aid and we accepted,” Taha said in a telephone interview in Gaza City.

Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militants in Gaza resumed firing rockets at Sderot and other Israeli border towns after the truce ended Dec. 19. Israeli leaders have been preparing plans to strike Hamas targets in Gaza and possibly retake control of some parts of the territory.

Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, and Islamic Jihad are considered terrorist groups by Israel, the U.S. and European Union. Because neither group accepts Israel’s right to exist, the cease-fire was set up indirectly through Egyptian mediators.

Both sides complained about violations of the six-month truce as never stopped firing rockets entirely and Israel frequently shut down border crossings, restricting food and fuel shipments into Gaza.

Tougher Measures

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have been preaching caution in responding to Hamas. Both Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of the Kadima Party and Likud Party Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu have been urging tougher measures in Gaza. Livni, Netanyahu and Barak, chairman of the Labor Party, are running for prime minister in February elections.

“They will probably start with more limited operations that include targeted killings of Hamas leaders and hitting infrastructure,” said Ephraim Kam, deputy director of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. “I don’t believe we’re ready to reoccupy Gaza at this point.”

Residents of Sderot, a city of 19,000 people that lies three miles east of Gaza, remained on high alert after more than 50 rockets and mortars were fired by Palestinians during the past five days.

Three residents were wounded by shrapnel Dec. 18 when a rocket landed in the parking lot of the city’s busiest shopping center. One house was destroyed yesterday by a direct strike, though there were no injuries.

“The cease-fire was basically worth nothing because the rockets kept falling,” said Galena Gisserman, a grandmother of two, who lives next door to the house that was hit. “Now we’re just going to get more of them.”

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Last Updated: December 22, 2008 10:06 EST

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