Cabinet holds urgent session on responding to rocket fire

The security cabinet met for an urgent session on Wednesday to discuss Israel's response to the massive barrage of rockets and mortar shells launched from Gaza at southern Israel during the course of the day.

Nearly 60 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at the western Negev since midnight on Wednesdaty; 40 of them were launched after 9 A.M.

On Tuesday, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar told the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram that "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."

He went on to say that a one-day cease-fire, called on Monday, "would be extended if positive developments were found."

Officials at the office of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' leader in the Gaza Strip, confirmed the remarks.

However, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that while the movement would "study any offer" for a truce, it had not received any so far. And Israeli government and defense establishment sources said that Israel has no intention of holding new cease-fire negotiations with Hamas at this time.

The Israeli sources confirmed that Egypt is more involved in trying to mediate a truce than it was two days ago. However, they said, it is unclear whether Cairo has enough leverage over Hamas to persuade the organization to agree to a deal.

"And before anything else, the [rocket] fire has to stop," added one source.

Abbas: Egypt pledges to push for rewnewal of truce

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo Tuesday, said afterward that Egypt had pledged to try to convince Hamas and Israel to renew the truce. He also said there has recently been progress in the reconciliation talks between his Fatah movement and Hamas.

Hamas ended its six-month truce with Israel, which ended on June 19, last Friday. On Monday, however, it announced it had agreed to an Egyptian request to halt firing for 24 hours to allow the aid convoy to enter the Strip. Virtually all major bakeries in Gaza are currently closed because they lack fuel to run their ovens and flour to bake bread.

However, the Jerusalem Post 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 both Gaza and Damascus and urged them to halt the rockets so as not to give Israel an excuse to attack.

IDF troops kill three Gaza militants rigging bomb at border

Meanwhile, the violence continued unabated Tuesday: The Israel Defense Forces killed three armed Palestinians as they were laying bombs along the Israel-Gaza border, while Palestinians fired five Qassam rockets from Gaza into the Negev.

The armed Palestinians threw grenades at the soldiers and set off one bomb before they were killed, but caused no casualties. The rockets also caused no casualties, as all landed in open areas of the Negev. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.

Also Tuesday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni blamed Egypt for Hamas' continuing grip on Gaza. Speaking to the Israel Women's Network in Tel Aviv, she said that "over the last half year, there has not been appropriate monitoring of the Philadelphi Road, which has led to Hamas growing stronger militarily." The Philadelphi Road runs along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Livni plans to raise the issue of arms smuggling from Egypt into Gaza when she meets Thursday with Mubarak in Cairo.