Israel, Egypt seek Gaza cease-fire

JERUSALEM — Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday to discuss efforts to work out a cease-fire between the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip and Israel, officials said.

The talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheik also will focus on Egyptian efforts to prevent arms smuggling into the Palestinian territory, Israeli government officials said Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity since the meeting had not yet been officially announced.

The talks do not signify a deal is imminent but that the Egyptian mediation efforts are progressing, they said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni also will meet Mubarak today at the resort, her office said. Spokesman Arye Mekel said the meeting would deal with all subjects relevant to Egyptian-Israeli relations, but would not confirm the cease-fire was on the agenda.

Egypt has been trying for weeks to work out a truce. But rocket attacks on southern Israel from Gaza have persisted, along with Israeli land raids and airstrikes against squads launching the projectiles.

Senior Israeli officials have warned in recent days of a growing danger from Hamas.

On Saturday, Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter told Israel Radio that Israel must destroy Hamas' arsenal, claiming it was almost on par with that of a sovereign state. In a separate interview, the outgoing air force chief, Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedi, said that in a future war, Israel would come under heavy rocket attack, including from Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is coming under growing domestic pressure to order a military offensive against Hamas, following two deadly missile strikes and a rocket hit on a crowded mall within a week.

In Gaza, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, said Israel is exaggerating Hamas' capacity in order to set the stage for a large-scale operation. However, Abu Obeida also said Hamas is pushing hard to obtain more weapons.

Olmert has held off on an offensive, in part because Israel does not seem to have an exit strategy, because a re-occupation of Gaza would kill many Israelis and Palestinians, and because the fighting would almost certainly derail Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and thus sabotage a key U.S. foreign-policy objective.

However, early last week, the Israeli army's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, dropped his opposition to a ground offensive in Gaza, security officials said.

Since Hamas seized control of Gaza by force almost a year ago, Israel has routinely targeted Gaza militants in missile strikes or sent ground forces into border areas for limited operations. It also has dramatically reduced supplies of fuel and commercial goods into the territory to pressure militants to halt their fire. So far, both strategies have failed to halt rocket fire from Gaza.

On Wednesday, during a visit to Israel by President Bush to mark Israel's 60th anniversary, an Iranian-made Grad rocket from Gaza hit a crowded shopping mall in the coastal city of Ashkelon, nine miles from Gaza. Fourteen people were wounded, four of them seriously.