MIDDLE EAST: Israel agrees to Egypt-sponsored truce in Gaza, Palestinians welcome the ceasefire

Record ID: 755431

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Israel agrees to Egypt-sponsored truce in Gaza, Palestinians welcome the ceasefire
  • Date: 18th June 2008
  • Summary: (W2) GAZA CITY, GAZA (JUNE 18, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS STREET SCENES PEOPLE CROSSING ROAD (W2) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (JUNE 18, 2008) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER SALAM FAYYAD AT THE INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL (SOUNDBITE) (English) PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER SALAM FAYYAD WELCOMING CEASEFIRE: "We welcome the announcement related to the calming down, tahadiyah, in Gaza
  • Embargoed: 3rd July 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA52ANVX61XHKNXMDRIM6KH37H0
  • Story Text: Israel said on Wednesday (June 18) it accepted an Egyptian-brokered truce with Hamas Islamists ruling the Gaza Strip.
    Egypt and Hamas said on Tuesday (June 17) a ceasefire would go into effect at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Thursday (June 19).
    Israel said it 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 has pressed for calm to remove an obstacle in slow-moving peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
    Mark Regev, a spokesman 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.

    "Israel has decided to accept the Egyptian proposal and it is our sincere hope that from tomorrow our civilian population in the south will no longer be the victim of these continued barrages of rocket and mortar shells from terrorists in the Gaza Strip and we'll have a new period of peace and quiet."
    Gazans on Wednesday buried six militants killed hours before the truce was agreed in Israeli airstrikes. Several hundred mourners marched through the coastal strip in a funeral procession for the six gunmen.
    The Islamic Jihad militant group said five of its members were killed when a missile struck their car near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.
    A second air strike destroyed a car travelling in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, killing one militant from the Army of Islam, a Palestinian group with a similar ideology to al Qaeda.
    An Israeli military spokeswoman said the air strikes targeted vehicles carrying militants.
    The ceasefire could give Hamas the opportunity to upgrade weaponry and train fighters and boost its popularity among Palestinians if Gaza border crossings reopen.
    The most recent Gaza ceasefire, in November 2006, broke down quickly.
    Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismael Haniyeh said a lasting truce would be good for Gazans who have suffered from the Israeli blockade. But he said any Israeli violation of the deal would not go unanswered.
    Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman 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.
    Gaza residents welcomed the deal but warned it was dependent on cooperation between the various Palestinian factions and the suspension of Israeli strikes on the territory.
    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.
    But Hamas has 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.
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