Hamas delegation in Cairo for talks on Gaza ceasefire

April 9th, 2009 GAZA - Leaders of the rival Hamas and Fatah movements held a meeting in Hamas-ruled Gaza Wednesday to discuss reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and mutual reconciliation. The meeting between the two movements' leaders is the first of its kind since Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007 following weeks of bloodshed between the two groups' warring militants.

February 13th, 2009 GAZA CITY - Israel has rejected an 18-month ceasefire with Hamas and wants an open lull without a time-limit, the Islamist Hamas movement said Saturday. Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said that Egypt, which has mediated between Israel and Hamas, and his movement can't accept such an open lull in accordance with Israel's request.

February 12th, 2009 CAIRO - Hamas has accepted an 18-month truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported Friday. 'We agreed to the truce with the Israeli side for one year and a half,' Hamas politburo deputy chief Moussa Abu-Marzouk said in a statement, adding that Gaza's six border crossings should be re-opened and the Jewish country must 'stop military actions and aggressions in all forms'.

February 5th, 2009 GAZA - An official in the Islamist movement Hamas said Thursday that the movement would give its final answer on Saturday to a possible Egyptian-brokered truce with Israel, but said that Israeli proposals for an agreement were vague. Hamas Gaza spokesman in Gaza Fawzi Barhoum said that 'a deal on a truce was not reached' because Israel had linked ending its blockade on the Gaza Strip and opening the border crossings - a key Hamas demand - with the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held captive in the Strip for over two-and-a-half years.

February 4th, 2009 CAIRO - As Egypt's Thursday deadline for negotiating a truce in the Gaza Strip approaches, a Hamas representative said an agreement was unlikely by the end of Wednesday's negotiations. 'There is still a huge gap between Hamas and Israel concerning a truce.

February 2nd, 2009 GAZA - Gaza militants fired three rockets into southern Israel overnight, causing no damage or injury, Israel's Arabic radio service reported Tuesday. One Russian-made Grad rocket landed in an empty area in Ashkelon, some 13 km from the Gaza border, the farthest a rocket reached inside Israel since the end of an Israeli offensive on the salient Jan 18, the report quoted an Israeli army spokesman as saying.

January 24th, 2009 GAZA - Hamas movement's leaders Sunday rejected a long-term ceasefire agreement with Israel, saying that only a ceasefire for a limited period of time was acceptable. Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, told reporters here that the Hamas delegation heading to Cairo was 'not to agree on a long-term ceasefire, but to discuss the reinforcing of the truce between Israel and Gaza factions.' 'The talks in Cairo aim at reaching a limited ceasefire that doesn't exceed one year, then we can re-discuss it before it ends,' Radwan said, adding that 'reopening the crossings and rebuilding Gaza will be issues to be discussed.' 'We won't accept a long term truce that kills the armed resistance, because resistance is a legal right for the Palestinian people as long as there is an occupation,' he added.

January 17th, 2009 GAZA - Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas vowed to continue fighting after Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza Strip Saturday evening. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Saturday evening declared a unilateral ceasefire in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, beginning from 2 a.m.

January 17th, 2009 BEIRUT - A Hamas representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said Saturday if there is no Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and no lifting of siege there will be no ceasefire. Hamdan was speaking shortly before the Israeli security cabinet announced a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza.

January 15th, 2009 KUWAIT CITY/DOHA - The head of militant Palestinian organisation Hamas' political bureau in Damascus, Khaled Meshaal, has said that the group will not accept any preconditions to a ceasefire by Israel in the Gaza Strip. Meshaal was speaking Friday before a meeting of Arab leaders in Qatar, adding that the Palestinian movement in Gaza 'had not suffered a defeat', and that they would therefore not accept any preconditions of the opponent.

January 15th, 2009 CAIRO - Egypt and the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas have agreed to a five-step plan that calls for a ceasefire as of Saturday, an Arab newspaper reported Friday as a senior Israeli official arrived for talks in Cairo. The pan-Arab Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, quoting Egyptian officials, said Egypt and Hamas have agreed to the Egyptian truce initiative, which now needs the approval of Israel.

January 13th, 2009 JERUSALEM - A senior Israeli defence official will visit Egypt Wednesday for talks over a possible ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a media report said. Amos Gilad, head of the Diplomatic Security Bureau of Israel's defence ministry, is scheduled to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman for facilitating a talk with Hamas, Ynet news service reported.

January 11th, 2009 CAIRO - Former British prime minister and Middle East special envoy Tony Blair Monday said 'elements were in place' for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Speaking after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in Cairo, Blair stressed that any agreement must be predicated on an end to weapons smuggling into Gaza and an end to the blockade of the territory.

January 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush Monday reiterated his call for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, insisting that Hamas stopping rocket attacks against Israel is a must.

January 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush has said Palestinian militants must first stop its rocket attacks on Israel before talks for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.