Ceasefire holds as Israel, Hamas prepare for talks
Israel said a new ceasefire with the militant Hamas group was last night holding in the Gaza Strip, a day after the two sides agreed to resume talks in Cairo.
The military said no rockets were fired at Israel and that the military hadn’t targeted any locations in the densely populated territory since the ceasefire went into effect yesterday.
The quiet allows for the resumption of talks on a long-term truce to end a month of fighting that has killed more than 1900 Palestinians. On the Israeli side, 67 people have died, all but three of them soldiers.
Last night in Gaza, high school students filed the streets as they headed off to pick up their graduation certificates after the Education Ministry said they’d be ready. People waited to buy fuel for generators as power and communication workers struggled to fix cables damaged in the fighting. Long lines formed at ATMs.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for “stamina” on the part of Israelis.
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting he said: “The operation will continue until its goal is met: the restoration of quiet for a long period. I said at the outset and throughout that it will take time and stamina.”
The Defence Minister, Moshe Yaalon, added: “If Hamas thinks that it will wear us down, it is making a mistake. We will return to the talks only after a truce.”
Hamas early yesterday had fired more than 20 projectiles at southern Israel from Gaza. Two of them caused a fire outside the town of Sderot.
Israelis living near the Gaza border voiced anger yesterday at the Government and Army after they returned to their homes last week only to be in the line of fire again. Danny Cohen, a father of four from Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, said he was looking for a safe place for his family, adding: “The families that returned with children are all the time forced to stay in their homes. We decided it wasn’t fair to the children for them to be here until such time when it is safe for them to play outside.”
Hamas is demanding the lifting of crippling Israeli and Egyptian restrictions on movement and access to the Gaza Strip. Israel says restrictions are necessary to prevent smuggling of weapons or components that could be used for weaponry. But it is also reluctant to hand Hamas any kind of victory, the Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, made clear in remarks yesterday. “No one can afford that there will be a message of weakness . . . If Hamas gets what it wants we might have a ceasefire for a while but we will lose hope for peace.” Strapped for cash and struggling to keep its dizzying debt in check, France is scrambling to sell its stateowned property as never before — at home and abroad. The latest of the French family jewels up for grabs is 1143 Fifth Ave, New York — a 1486sq m, seven-floor red brick and limestone building, housing five apartments as well as a dazzling eightroom duplex which is on the market for US$32.5 million ($38.3 million). The Government is seeking to make €50 billion ($79 billion) in savings in the next three years. In May the official residence of France’s ambassador to the UN was sold for US$70 million.