Hamas Rejects Gaza Cease-Fire
France Says Israel Accepts Egyptian-French Plan, But Hamas Tells CBS News Deal Does Not Ensure Open Borders Or End Blockade

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/...l?tag=topStory

1/7/2009

(CBS/AP) French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that Israel had accepted an Egyptian-French cease-fire plan for the Gaza Strip, but Hamas officials in Syria told CBS News that they could not agree to the plan because it does not guarantee open border crossings or an end to a crippling blockade.

Nicolas Sarkozy said the Palestinian Authority, which has not had any control in the Strip for more than a year, also agreed to the plan that was offered up by the French and Egyptian foreign ministers at the United Nations Tuesday night.

Sarkozy said he "strongly welcomed the acceptance by Israel and the Palestinian Authority of the French-Egyptian plan presented yesterday by (Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak."

However, Israel said it would support the proposal only if it halts "hostile fire" from Hamas in Gaza and includes measures to prevent the militant group from re-arming, said government spokesman Mark Regev.

Sarkozy's spokesman, Franck Louvrier, was also more cautious, saying the French president's statement was "a reaction to the fact that, according to contacts with different interlocutors, they would accept the plan introduced yesterday as a departure point for discussion, which would allow a renewal of dialogue."

In Syria, a spokesman for Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal told CBS News' George Baghdadi soon after Sarkozy's comments were made public that the militant group did not accept the terms of the Egyptian-French plan.

Spokesman Abu Omar said Hamas could only agree to a plan which guaranteed to end the economic blockade and to reopen the border crossings as soon as hostilities on both sides were halted; what he called a "complete package."

The Egyptian plan calls for Hamas to stop firing rockets and Israel to stop its military campaign simultaneously - which Hamas is amenable to - but it then states both sides should sit down to discuss further measures to be taken, such as the border crossings and the blockade.

Israel has no direct contacts with Hamas, but Mashaal indicated earlier Wednesday for the first time an apparent willingness to "contribute in reaching a solution to stop the aggression in Gaza."

For any plan to be implemented, Israel would likely demand an absolute guarantee from Hamas that all rocket attacks on southern Israel from the tiny Palestinian territory would stop, and the group would not be permitted to re-arm itself.

About 300 of the more than 670 Palestinians killed in the Israeli operation by Wednesday were civilians, according to Palestinian and U.N. figures. Of those killed, at least 130 were children age 16 and under, said the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which tracks casualties.

Under intense pressure from the international community and non-profit aid organizations, Israel said earlier Wednesday it would stop its aerial and ground assault on Hamas targets for three-hour periods each day. The Israeli military was in the middle of its first three-hour cessation of fire when news broke about the government apparently accepting the French-Egyptian plan.

Artillery fire resumed later Wednesday.

The brief cease-fire windows were meant to allow for the distribution of humanitarian aid to the roughly 1.5 million besieged residents of the Gaza Strip, but Israel warned it would resume attacks if it detected an imminent threat from Hamas rockets.

Trucks full of food, water, medical supplies and fuel started moving after waiting for weeks on Israel's side of the Gaza border. The Israeli government says it should be safe for them to travel on a designated route, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.

However, just getting aid into Gaza won't solve the huge humanitarian problems. Roads are bombed and blocked, reports Roth and it's still a battle zone full of hazards for people delivering the aid and the people who need it.

John Ging, head of Gaza operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, welcomed the short window as, "the first step," but said it was not a solution.

"It will be three hours out of 24 hours," Ging told the British Broadcasting Corp., "We will be able to do what we can do in three hours."

"A million people have no electricity ... Everybody is short of food," he added.

Even as Israel weighed its options over Tuesday night, it moved ahead with its attempts to forcefully stomp out militant rocket fire in Gaza.

Israel said it struck 40 Hamas targets in the cover of night. Gaza officials said one morning airstrike killed four people, and heavy gunfire bellowed in a neighborhood east of Gaza City.

Only five of the 75 Palestinians killed Tuesday were confirmed militants, and the United Nations called for an investigation into the growing civilian casualties after Israeli shelling killed 42 people at a school being operated as a shelter by a U.N. refugee agency.

That agency said Wednesday it was certain that Hamas militants were not using its school to attack Israeli troops. Israel has said militants fired mortar shells at its troops from outside the school, drawing return fire.

Christopher Guinness of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency said Wednesday, "UNWRA is 99.9 percent certain there were no militants or military activity in its school."

That does not necessarily contradict Israel's claim that the militants were operating close by. Guinness said the agency wants an impartial investigation of witnesses, Israeli military photographs or any other evidence.

Palestinians who witnessed the attack near the school have reported seeing militants flee the scene, into the civilian population, after the first of about five shells hit.

The rising civilian death toll in Israel's campaign in Gaza highlights the pitfalls of Israel's powerful army using lethal force against often invisible Hamas guerrillas taking cover among civilians.

The images of maimed or bloodied Palestinian civilians, including children, was likely to heighten international pressure on Israel to abort the offensive before it has obtained its main objective - hitting Hamas hard so it will halt rocket fire on Israeli border towns.

In Israel's campaign against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in 1996, errant Israeli artillery shells killed 91 Lebanese civilians at a U.N. base near the village of Qana, turning initial international support for the operation into harsh criticism. In 2006, Israeli shells killed 18 Palestinians in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.