- Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev says Israel accepts truce extension
- He accuses Hamas of violating the cease-fire overnight with rocket fire
- A Hamas spokesman had earlier denied responsibility for any rockets launched
- Israeli and Palestinian officials are expected to resume indirect talks in Cairo at the weekend
Gaza City (CNN) -- After a shaky start, an extended cease-fire in Gaza appeared to be holding Thursday.
Rocket fire from Gaza late Wednesday, near the end of the initial truce, and early Thursday, as the extension began, raised doubts about whether it would last. Israeli airstrikes in response to the rockets added to fears that fighting was ratcheting up again.
But the exchange of fire was limited and didn't last long. Quiet returned to the skies over Gaza, aside from the familiar buzz of Israeli drones.
By noon Thursday in Gaza City, many people had left U.N. shelters to visit the neighborhoods they had fled during the fighting, and traffic had once again filled the bustling streets.
IDF: Rocket fired from Gaza into Israel 
Stabilizing Gaza during cease-fire 
Mideast crisis: Fragile cease-fire holds 
Islam El Masri begins to sort through the rubble of her destroyed home in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, on Thursday, August 14, as a new cease-fire between Israel and Hamas went into effect. Israel launched a ground operation in Gaza on July 17 after a 10-day campaign of airstrikes failed to halt relentless Hamas rocket fire on Israeli cities. 
Israelis gather in Tel Aviv, Israel, during a protest August 14 calling on the government and the army to end Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza once and for all. 
Smoke rises in Gaza City after an airstrike on Saturday, August 9. 
Israeli soldiers walk past a Merkava tank as they patrol a field near Israel's border with Gaza on August 9. 
A Palestinian boy salvages family belongings from the rubble of a four-story building after an airstrike in Gaza City on Friday, August 8. Israel and Hamas militants resumed attacks on Friday after a cease-fire expired. 
Israelis flee after a rocket fired from Gaza hit the residential neighborhood of Sderot, Israel, on August 8. 
A Palestinian man looks out over destruction in the al-Tufah neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday, August 6, as a 72-hour cease-fire between Israel and Hamas entered its second day. 
After the cease-fire went into effect, displaced Palestinians carry their belongings as they leave a United Nations school in Beit Lahiya, Gaza, to return to their homes Tuesday, August 5. 
The body of Avrohom Wallis is carried during his funeral in Jerusalem on Monday, August 4. Wallis was killed in what Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld called a "terror attack," when a man drove an earthmover into a bus in Jerusalem. 
Israeli soldiers fire a mortar shell toward Gaza from the Israeli side of the border on August 4. 
Palestinians remove rubble from a house hit by an airstrike in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on August 4. 
An Israeli drone circles over Gaza City on Sunday, August 3. 
A Palestinian man sits in a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, on August 3. 
An honor guard caries the coffin of Israeli Lt. Hadar Goldin during his funeral in Kfar-saba, Israel, on August 3. Goldin was thought to have been captured during fighting in Gaza but was later declared killed in action by the Israel Defense Forces. 
A Palestinian boy looks for belongings after an airstrike in Rafah on Saturday, August 2. 
Israeli soldiers walk to their tank at a staging area near the border with Gaza on August 2. 
A young Palestinian carries damaged copies of the Quran from the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque in Gaza City on August 2. 
Palestinians displaced from their houses return to check their homes in Gaza City on Friday, August 1. 
An Israeli soldier carries a shell as he prepares a tank along the Israel-Gaza border on Thursday, July 31. Israel called up 16,000 additional reservists, bolstering forces for its fight against Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza. 
Smoke rises from a building after an airstrike in Rafah on July 31. 
The parents and a sister of Israeli soldier Guy Algranati mourn during his funeral in Tel Aviv on July 31. 
U.N. workers remove a donkey injured at a U.N.-run school in Gaza on Wednesday, July 30. 
Palestinians walk under the collapsed minaret of a destroyed mosque in Gaza City on July 30. 
Palestinians gather leaflets that fell from an Israeli plane on July 30. The leaflets warned residents of airstrikes in Gaza City. 
Israelis take cover from a Palestinian rocket attack from Gaza during the funeral of Israeli soldier Meidan Maymon Biton, which was held at a cemetery in Netivot, Israel, on Tuesday, July 29. 
Smoke and fire rise above Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike on July 29. 
An Israeli soldier prays on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza on July 29 as smoke billows from the only power plant supplying electricity to Gaza. 
Near the rubble of their home in Rafah, Palestinian men mourn July 29 for people killed during an airstrike. 
A Palestinian man places a portrait of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya on the rubble of Haniya's Gaza City home July 29 after it was hit by an overnight airstrike. 
Flares from Israeli forces light up the night sky of Gaza City on July 29. 
Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of 2nd Lt. Roy Peles, an infantry officer who was killed in combat, during his funeral in Tel Aviv on Sunday, July 27. 
During a 12-hour cease-fire in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood on Saturday, July 26, a Palestinian man sits atop a car filled with belongings that were salvaged from a destroyed home. 
Israeli soldiers watch a bomb explode along the border with Gaza before the 12-hour cease-fire on July 26. 
As her brother-in-law Mazen Keferna weeps on the ground, Manal Keferna cries upon discovering her family home destroyed by airstrikes in Beit Hanoun on July 26. 
Palestinians dig a body out of the rubble of a destroyed house in Gaza during the cease-fire on July 26. 
An Israeli soldier mourns at the grave of reserve Master Sgt. Yair Ashkenazy during his funeral at the military cemetery in Rehovot, Israel, on Friday, July 25. Ashkenazy was killed during operations in northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces reported. 
A Palestinian man cries after bringing a child to the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya on Thursday, July 24. The child was wounded in a strike on a school that was serving as a shelter for families in Gaza. It's unclear who was behind the strike. The Israeli military said it was "reviewing" the incident, telling CNN that a rocket fired from Gaza could have been responsible. 
Israeli soldiers carry a wounded soldier to a helicopter near the Israel-Gaza border on July 24. 
Israeli soldiers patrol the Israel-Gaza border on July 24. 
A trail of blood is seen in the courtyard of the school that was hit July 24 in the Beit Hanoun district of Gaza. 
An Israeli tank fires toward Gaza from a position near Israel's border on July 24. 
A photograph tweeted by astronaut Alexander Gerst on Wednesday, July 23, shows major cities of Israel and Gaza. Gerst said in his tweet: "My saddest photo yet. From #ISS we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over #Gaza & #Israel." 
A woman in Philadelphia passes by a departure board that shows US Airways Flight 796, scheduled to fly to Tel Aviv, has been canceled on Tuesday, July 22. The Federal Aviation Administration told U.S. airlines they were temporarily prohibited from flying to the Tel Aviv airport after a Hamas rocket exploded nearby. 
Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City on July 22. 
A relative of Israeli soldier Jordan Ben-Simon mourns over his coffin during his funeral in Ashkelon, Israel, on July 22. 
Palestinians inspect destroyed buildings and collect usable items after an Israeli air assault on July 22. 
Israeli soldiers weep at the grave of Israeli Sgt. Adar Barsano during his funeral Sunday, July 20, in Nahariya, Israel. 
Palestinian medics carry a body in Gaza's Shaja'ia district on July 20. 
Israeli soldiers give medical care to soldiers who were wounded during an offensive in Gaza on July 20. 
A Palestinian boy injured during an Israeli airstrike is taken to the hospital by his father in Gaza City on July 20. 
Palestinians flee their homes as Israeli troops focus their firepower on the Gaza town of Shaja'ia on Sunday, July 20. The shelling and bombing killed at least 60 people and wounded 300, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. 
Smoke rises after an Israeli missile hit Shaja'ia on July 20. 
A Palestinian child walks on debris from a destroyed house following an overnight Israeli strike in Beit Lahiya on Saturday, July 19. 
An explosion rocks a street in Gaza City on Friday, July 18. 
Israeli ground forces move to the Gaza border on July 18. 
Israeli soldiers patrol near the Israel-Gaza border on July 18. 
A relative mourns July 18 during the funeral of Rani Abu Tawila, a Palestinian who was killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City. 
A Palestinian demonstrator, protesting Israel's military operation in Gaza, runs through smoke July 18 during clashes with Israeli soldiers at the entrance of the Ofer prison in the West Bank village of Betunia. 
This image, made from video shot through a night-vision scope, was released by the Israeli military on July 18. It shows troops moving through a wall opening during the early hours of the ground offensive in Gaza. 
Children stare as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, Gaza, to safe areas July 18. 
An Israeli tank fires a shell into Gaza on July 18. 
A Palestinian carries a gas cylinder salvaged from the rubble of an apartment building after it was hit by Israeli fire on July 18. 
An Israeli reservist prays July 18 near the Gaza border by Sderot, Israel. 
Flare smoke rises into the Gaza City sky on Thursday, July 17. Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis Israeli and Palestinian officials said they had accepted the five-day extension of the truce. The initial three-day cease-fire had expired at midnight.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev accused Hamas, the militant Islamic group that holds power in Gaza, of violating the truce with the overnight rocket fire.
But Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri had earlier denied that the organization had anything to do with firing any rockets toward Israel, leaving it unclear which Palestinian group had launched them.
'Still sticking points'
Israeli and Palestinian delegations had been negotiating in Cairo through Egyptian go-betweens in an attempt to find a more lasting end to hostilities. Under the cease-fire extension, they are expected to return to the indirect talks over the weekend.
"There remains a positive atmosphere towards reaching a comprehensive agreement," Azzam al-Ahmed, the lead Palestinian negotiator told reporters late Wednesday. "But there are still sticking points."
Khalil al-Hayya, a leader of Hamas, described the negotiations as both difficult and serious. He accused Israel of "playing semantic games."
"Since we are determined (to work things out), we agreed to extend the humanitarian truce in order to hold more in-depth consultations -- and to allow more pressure on the Israelis, internally and externally, so they agree with our demands," the Hamas leader said.
The two sides' demands aren't easy to reconcile.
Israel says it wants Hamas to disarm and Gaza to be demilitarized.
The Palestinian delegation in Egypt, which includes Hamas, has demanded an end to Israel's economic blockade on Gaza, an extension of fishing rights off the coast, the reopening of an airport and seaport and the release of prisoners held by Israelis.
Al-Ahmed, head of the Palestinian team, said late Wednesday that there's still no agreement on the opening of crossings into Israel, "the launching of a free fishing zone" and various "security issues."
Israel: Hamas is 'wild card'
The Gaza conflict has killed more than 1,900 people on the Palestinian side, most of them believed to be civilians, and 67 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers.
Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system has intercepted some of the roughly 3,500 rockets fired from Gaza since the conflict began.
Father of Gaza miltant: I'm proud of son 
Gaza blockade explained Regev told CNN on Thursday that the key to a longer-term solution was an end to rocket fire from Gaza.
"If there's no hostile fire from Gaza into Israel, of course we can have serious discussions about easing restrictions," he said. They're only there in the first place as a response to the violence."
Hamas is the "wild card," Regev said, expressing skepticism that the group would give up violence.
But Hanan Ashrawi, an executive member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said the Israelis "keep blaming Hamas for everything."
She suggested that the Israeli government "stop trying to demonize, dehumanize and blame Hamas and the Palestinians," saying it should instead "make the cease-fire hold and move to ending the occupation and dealing with all the root causes."
Israel and its neighbors: Decades of war
Opinion: Why Israel is its own worst enemy
Opinion: Hypocrisy of 'condemn Israel' campaign
Is Mideast peace as far away as ever?
CNN's Martin Savidge reported from Gaza City, and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Reza Sayah, Ali Younes, Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett contributed to this report.
No comments:
Post a Comment