Israel suspends Gaza offensive

Israel has suspended its offensive in the Gaza Strip following a lull in rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, but is ready to continue the operation if the rocket fire resumes, officials said today.

The officials said the operation, which included a series of airstrikes last week, achieved its goal of weakening militants’ ability to attack Israel from Gaza. Militants have not fired rockets into Israel since Tuesday, the army said.

With the break in fighting, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas spoke by telephone today and agreed to meet soon, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

The leaders “agreed to tighten co-operation and to work together to advance the peace process”, Sharon’s office said. It did not give a date for the meeting, though Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said preparations would begin in the coming days.

Sharon and Abbas had been tentatively scheduled to meet today, but the summit was cancelled after Israel launched its offensive last week.

Responding to a barrage of rockets, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes in Gaza, killing four militants in pinpoint attacks and destroying buildings it said were used to produce or store weapons. Israel also arrested more than 400 suspected militants in the West Bank.

Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told the Cabinet the offensive had dealt a tough blow to the Hamas militant group, and was meant to send a stern message that violence from Gaza won’t be tolerated now that Israel has withdrawn from the coastal territory.

Mofaz told the ministers that Israeli forces remain on high alert. “The operation is not over,” he said.

However, Israeli security officials said the operation was informally halted this weekend and will only continue if the rocket attacks resume.

Israel has not carried out an airstrike since Thursday, two days after the last rocket was fired. The militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad last week both declared a halt to the rocket attacks.

The fighting broke out just weeks after Israel completed its withdrawal from Gaza – a move that had raised hopes around the world that peace talks could soon resume.

Erekat, the Palestinian negotiator, said a halt in the latest fighting “serves the interests” of Israelis and Palestinians.

“As Palestinians we are fully committed to the cessation of violence against Israelis anywhere, and I hope the Israeli announcement today constitutes a full cessation by Israel of violence against Palestinians anywhere,” he said.

But Hamas rejected the halt in the offensive as a ”political manoeuvre aimed at blackmailing our people and putting pressure on the Palestinian Authority to confront the resistance factions,” said spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

Abbas is under heavy international pressure to disarm Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups.

Abbas refuses to confront the militants, fearing civil war, and instead has tried to co-opt them by inviting them to participate in Palestinian legislative elections.