Egypt presses Hamas to accept truce and halt missile attacks

EGYPT was trying to persuade Hamas yesterday to accept a truce that would halt rocket attacks on Israel in an effort to put an end to Gaza violence and salvage Middle East peace talks.

Deputies of Egypt’s intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, met with officials from the Islamic militant Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad in the Egyptian Sinai city of el-Arish, security officials said.

A truce was high on the agenda of the talks, said one security official.

There were fears of a fresh round of violence after Palestinian militants ambushed an Israeli army jeep on the border with Gaza yesterday, killing one soldier and wounding three. The death brought to four the number of Israelis killed in the fighting since last week.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has proposed a truce under which Hamas would halt rocket fire into Israel. In return, Israel would stop military activity in the Gaza Strip, ease the blockade of Gaza and the main border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would be opened, Palestinian officials said.

Egyptian officials have not said whether the truce discussions with Hamas were centred on Mr Abbas’s proposal. Israel has not commented on the proposal, saying only that, if the rocket fire stops, Israel will stop going after Gaza militants.

Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has said Egypt is holding talks with Hamas “to push it to stop the firing of missiles”.

Egypt appears to have launched its mediation attempt under heavy pressure from its ally, the US. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks with Egyptian leaders on Tuesday. US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch met with Suleiman and Aboul Gheit yesterday to discuss the Egyptian mediation efforts.

A human-rights coalition said Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip has created the worst humanitarian crisis since its occupation began in 1967.

Food shortages, crumbling health services and a water and sewage system close to collapse are all part of the daily misery facing 1.5 million Palestinians in Hamas-controlled Gaza, a scathing report by relief groups said.

The report — sponsored by Amnesty, along with Care International Britain, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Medecins du Monde, Oxfam, Save the Children and Trócaire — calls on the British government to exert greater pressure on Israel and to reverse its policy on not negotiating with Gaza’s Hamas rulers.