While strikes in Gaza and rockets on Israel's southern communities continued
Thursday, signs of a materializing ceasefire were also present. According to Egyptian diplomats, Israel
is leaning
| Palestinian Side |
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| Jihad: Egypt yet to respond to our reservations / Roee Nahmias |
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Islamic Jihad secretary-general says Palestinians submitted their list of reservations over ceasefire agreement, but have yet to receive response from Cairo. Palestinians feel victory is near, he adds |
| Full story |
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towards accepting the country's truce initiative
in Gaza.
Amos Gilad, the head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau, has returned from his visit to Cairo, where he met with head of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman.
According to diplomatic sources in Egypt,
Israel gave the ceasefire offered in Cairo a "green light", just one day after Hamas
approved the plan's principle points.
Gilad is set to brief Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
Defense Minister Ehud Barak,
and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
on his the visit.
Sources in Jerusalem said the briefing may yield a decision on whether to approve the Egyptian initiative
and a subsequent withdrawal from Gaza, or to continue the offensive in the Strip. The security cabinet is scheduled to debate the decision Friday morning.
On Wednesday Palestinian sources reported
that Hamas had accepted the key factors of the Egyptian plan, and a Hamas representative in Cairo said
the organization was doing its utmost to "stop the aggression, remove the siege, and open the crossings."
AFP contributed to the report
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