Hamas ready to renew truce under old terms, official says (Roundup)

Dec 23, 2008, 14:22 GMT

Cairo/Gaza/Tel Aviv - Hamas is willing to renew a ceasefire with Israel without adding any new conditions, a senior official of the Islamist organization said in an interview published Tuesday.

'The Palestinians want to give a chance to the Egyptian mediators. Hamas is ready for a truce, if Israel sticks to the terms of the June agreement,' Mahmoud al-Zahar told the Egyptian al-Ahram daily.

A one-day ceasefire, called on Monday 'would be extended if positive developments were found,' he said.

Officials in the office of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya confirmed the remarks.

The six-month truce between Israel and the Palestinian Gazan militant organizations, which began on June 19, ended Friday morning, and was not renewed.

On Monday however Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, announced it had agreed to an Egyptian request to cease firing for 24 hours, to allow an aid convoy to enter the Gaza Strip.

The Jerusalem Post daily, however, reported Tuesday that the one- day truce came 'after a warning from Egypt that Israel would begin assassinating Hamas leaders if the rockets continued.'

Quoting an unnamed 'senior Hamas official,' the daily said Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman had contacted Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip and in Damascus and urged them to halt the rockets so as not to give Israel an excuse to attack.

The Hamas official said Egypt advised Hamas 'to do something to calm the situation before it's too late.'

Despite the Hamas announcement, two rockets and one mortar landed in Israel on Monday, bringing to 81 the number of projectiles that have been launched from the Strip since the end of the truce at 6 am (0400 GMT) Friday morning.

Israel has responded with airstrikes on rocket-launching squads.

A Hamas spokesman said Tuesday that the movement would 'study any offer' for a truce, but had not received any offers so far.

Fawzi Barhoum added however that any new truce proposal had to include Israel lifting its siege of the Gaza Strip and opening the crossing points into the salient.

Hamas, whose violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 led Israel to impose a siege on the salient and drastically limit the flow of goods into there, is angling to get the Israel blockade lifted.

Israel however says the opening of the crossing points depends on the absence of rockets. During the just-lapsed truce, Israel would close the points after each sporadic missile attack.

As Hamas grapples with whether to go for a new truce, Israelis are arguing whether to launch a wide-scale military offensive in the Strip to end the rocket fire.

Israel leaders have repeatedly said the 'rocket fire cannot continue,' and have said the military will act at the opportune moment.

Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai, however, said Tuesday afternoon that while Israel was 'willing, if necessary to fight, and we are able to do this well if we have to, we prefer other ways.'

'You always have to look at the entire picture, to understand how something you start will end,' he warned in an interview with Israel Radio.