Israeli soldiers ride on top of an armoured personal carrier close to the Israel Gaza Border, southern Israel
AP

Israel offered to suspend its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday during a brief visit by Egypt’s premier there if militants refrain from firing rockets at Israel, an official said, the first possible break in the escalating conflict.

An official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli leader was responding to an Egyptian request.

Prime Minister Hesham Kandil crossed into Gaza before midday through the only border post between Egypt and Gaza, reports The Associated Press.

Israel told the Egyptians the military “would hold its fire on the condition that during that period, there won’t be hostile fire from Gaza into Israel,” the Israeli official said. “Prime Minister Netanyahu is committed to the peace treaty with Egypt, which is in the strategic interest of both countries,” he added, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the diplomatic exchange.

Shortly after Kandil arrived, Gaza militants fired off repeated rocket salvoes, but there were no immediate reports of Israeli retaliation.

It wasn’t clear whether Israel hoped to use the possible suspension of hostilities to seek a broader truce or was agreeing to the halt in fighting only as a gesture to Egypt.

Three days of fierce fighting between Israel and Gaza militants has widened the instability gripping the region, straining already frayed Israel-Egypt relations. The Cairo government recalled its ambassador in protest.

Egypt said Kandil’s three-hour visit Friday was meant as a show of solidarity with the Palestinian territory’s militant Hamas rulers.

Egyptian intelligence officials involved in negotiations to end previous rounds of fighting are accompanying Kandil on his visit, an Egyptian diplomat said, suggesting it was more than a display of support.

The diplomat said Gaza militants have told Egyptian intelligence officials they would be willing to hold their fire if Israel would commit to mediation to stop its military operation and targeted killings.

Word of the possible pause in the fighting came after a night of fierce exchanges and signals that Israel might be preparing to invade Gaza. Overnight, the military said it targeted about 150 of the sites Gaza gunmen use to fire rockets at Israel, as well as ammunition warehouses, bringing to 450 the number of sites struck since the operation began Wednesday.

Israeli troops, tanks and armoured personnel carriers massed near the Palestinian territory, signalling a ground invasion might be imminent.

Militants unleashed dozens of rocket barrages overnight.

Fighting between the two sides escalated sharply Thursday with a first-ever rocket attack from Gaza on the Tel Aviv area, menacing Israel’s most densely populated area. No casualties were reported there, but three people died in the country’s rocket-scarred south when a projectile slammed into an apartment building.

The death toll in Gaza was 19, including five children, according to Palestinian health officials.

Early Friday, 85 missiles exploded within 45 minutes in Gaza City, sending black pillars of smoke towering above the coastal strip’s largest city. The military said it was targeting underground rocket-launching sites.

One missile flattened sections of the Interior Ministry, leaving a huge pile of rubble, and another hit an uninhabited house belonging to a senior Hamas commander. Those strikes, together with an attack on a generator building near the home of Gaza’s Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, signalled that Israel was expanding its offensive beyond military targets.

Posted by admin on Nov 16 2012. Filed under Africa & World Politics, Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry