A long-sought truce between Israel and Gaza militants went into effect early Thursday, aiming to halt militant attacks and a bruising Israeli blockade, but clashes in the hours before the cease-fire underscored how fragile the agreement would be.Palestinian rocket and mortar fire and Israeli air reprisals continued on Wednesday ahead of the Egyptian-brokered agreement meant to end the tit for tat violence.
Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has ruled Gaza for the past year, reported that the Israeli navy fired four shells into the waters off Gaza City after the truce began. But the shells fell about 500 yards from shore and there were no apparent targets in the area, witnesses reported, suggesting the shells might have been fired as part of a military drill. The military had no immediate comment.
Nearly two hours into the truce, there were no other reports of fire.
Although each side has expressed skepticism over the other’s commitment to the accord, the hope is that it will avert an Israeli military invasion of the tiny seaside territory it pulled out of nearly three years ago.
Just a day before the cease-fire was set to take hold, Israel launched another diplomatic initiative — a public call on neighboring Lebanon to open peace negotiations. Lebanon’s premier quickly rejected the call.
The Gaza deal, which took effect at 6 a.m., is supposed to last six months. According to its terms, militants will immediately halt their attacks on Israel, and Israel will cease its raids.
After three days, Israel is to ease its blockade of Gaza to allow the shipment of some supplies to resume. A week later Israel is to further ease restrictions at cargo crossings. In a final stage, the sides are supposed to talk about opening a major border passage between Gaza and Egypt and the release of an Israeli soldier Hamas has held for two years.
Israel’s blockade was imposed in an effort to pressure Hamas to stop attacks from Iranian-backed militants, who have been bombarding southern Israel with rockets and mortars for seven years.
The rate of fire increased after Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005 and stepped up further last year after Hamas wrested power from forces loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose government controls the West Bank.
“We in Hamas are committed to this calm and are interested in making it succeed,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said shortly before the truce went into effect. “The ball is now in Israel’s court.”
“I hope it will succeed. I believe there will be quiet in (Israel’s) south,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a speech Wednesday to philanthropists. But he also said he instructed his military “to prepare for any operation, short or long, that might be necessary” if the truce breaks down.
A cease-fire in November 2006 lasted only weeks before unraveling.
The opening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt, snapped shut after Hamas violently wrested control of Gaza a year ago, is a major Hamas demand. Israel’s point man on the truce negotiations, Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad, said late Wednesday that Rafah would not reopen if Israeli Cpl. Gilad Schalit were not released. But in an e-mail Thursday, Hamas’ military wing said Schalit, captured in a cross-border raid, would not be freed unless hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were.
Israel has balked at releasing some of the militants Hamas wants freed because they were involved in fatal attacks on Israelis.
The Hamas Interior Ministry sent an e-mail to reporters Thursday saying 260 Palestinians who had been stranded in Egypt after seeking medical treatment there had crossed back into Gaza through Rafah overnight. It said 5,517 Gazans, including students and Palestinians with residency abroad, have applied to leave if Rafah is opened. “We expect very good news in the next few days,” the ministry said — hinting at a temporary opening to allow those people to leave.
Israelis in communities near the Gaza Strip have lived for years with barrages of mortars and rockets that send them scrambling for cover almost every day. Palestinians in Gaza have suffered the consequences of punishing Israeli retribution — airstrikes and military raids targeting gunmen and a blockade that has cut off many vital supplies.
On Wednesday, the truce still seemed remote. The military said at least 40 rockets and 10 mortar shells exploded in Israel by nightfall, an especially high one-day total.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for much of the rocket fire, saying it was avenging Israeli airstrikes that killed 10 militants in the previous two days. Israel hit back with two more airstrikes, wounding two Palestinians, according to Hamas security officials.
Palestinians reported that a Hamas militant was killed in an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza shortly before the truce took hold. The military confirmed it attacked a rocket squad, but said it could not confirm an airstrike.
One of the rockets from Gaza on Wednesday exploded in Ilan Basherim’s greenhouse at Moshav Yesha, not far from Gaza.
“This cease-fire will give more strength to Hamas, and they will be more violent in another six months. This is not good for Israel, and definitely not good for us,” said Basherim, 38.
Khaled Abdel Halem, a 24-year-old Gaza law student, said he would be happy if Israel lifted the blockade, alleviating Gaza’s abject poverty. “But honestly, I don’t have much hope that this agreement will hold for a long time. We are not talking about an agreement between friends or brothers. We are talking about a deal between two enemies who wish death for each other all the time.”
Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said preparations were under way to increase the number of trucks carrying goods into Gaza beginning Sunday if the truce holds. Only one crossing is currently capable of operating at full capacity because two others have been damaged by Palestinian attacks, he said.
Lerner said fuel shipments would not immediately increase. Israel has restricted fuel supplies into Gaza, causing shortages and forcing motorists to use alternative modes of transportation.
Egypt labored for months to broker the deal, acting as middleman because Israel, like much of the international community, shuns Hamas for refusing to recognize Israel or renounce violence.
In Washington, White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe was hopeful.
“We hope this means no more rockets will be fired by Hamas at innocent Israelis as well as lead to a better atmosphere for talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority,” he said, “but for that to happen, Hamas has to choose to become a legitimate political party and give up terrorism.”
Israel’s call on Lebanon to open peace talks came after the second round of indirect talks between Israel and Syria in Turkey — contacts made public just last month.
Government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel was interested in “direct, bilateral” talks and ready to put “every issue of contention” on the table, including the dispute over the Chebaa Farms enclave. A U.N.-drawn border calls the 15-square-mile parcel of wasteland part of Syria under Israeli occupation, but Hezbollah insists it belongs to Lebanon and has used it to explain its continuing attacks on Israel.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora rejected Israel’s call.
“Lebanon’s known position before this government is that there is no place for bilateral negotiations between Lebanon and Israel,” Saniora’s media office said in a statement late Wednesday.
Hezbollah legislator Nawar al-Saheli told The Associated Press that the Israeli offer is “ridiculous propaganda.”
U.S. pressure may be behind the Israeli move. On Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced U.S. backing for a new diplomatic push to resolve the Chebaa Farms land dispute in a gesture to the new Lebanese government, and as a catalyst for solving bigger issues in the region.
