ISRAEL’S SECURITY cabinet is expected to endorse a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza when it convenes tonight.
The surprise move follows reports that prime minister Ehud Olmert, who had previously opposed a unilateral move by the Israelis in favour of a negotiated ceasefire, now believes that talks through intermediaries with Hamas are going nowhere.
Yesterday the exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal made it clear that the organisation would not accept Israeli conditions for a ceasefire. Addressing a meeting of Arab leaders in Qatar, Mr Meshaal said the armed resistance in Gaza would continue until the Israeli offensive ended, and he called on Arab states to break off diplomatic relations with Israel.
His comments were in contrast to remarks from Hamas representatives over the last few days indicating that the organisation was willing to accept the Egyptian peace initiative.
Asked on Israeli television if the government would act unilaterally to halt the fighting, foreign minister Tzipi Livni said a decision would be made by the security cabinet.
Ms Livni has long advocated an informal end to the hostilities.
“If Hamas shoots, we will have to respond, and if it shoots after a period of time, we will have to mount another campaign,” she told Israel’s Channel 10. “I have said the end doesn’t have to be in agreement with Hamas but rather in arrangements against Hamas.”
The main sticking point in talks in Egypt remained the sequence of implementation of the various elements of a truce.
Israel refused a Hamas demand for a military withdrawal and the opening of the border crossings, before agreement was reached on a mechanism to stop arms smuggling into Gaza.
An important element for Israel was wrapped up yesterday when US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, on her last full working day in office, signed a deal with the visiting Ms Livni on enhanced intelligence co-operation to stop weapons destined for Hamas reaching Egypt.
The US also promised technical and logistical support to international monitors to be deployed on the Gaza border.
US state department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was expected that no US personnel would be stationed in Gaza or Egypt under the deal. “The idea here is to change the reality on the ground,” said Mr McCormack.
The agreement was designed to ensure “Hamas is not able to be resupplied via sea, land or air,” he said.
Meanwhile, the military campaign is today set to enter its third week. There were significantly fewer clashes on the ground yesterday, as Israeli forces pulled back from positions in Gaza taken the previous day.
Israel faced a growing diplomatic backlash in response to the Gaza offensive.
Mauritania, one of the few Arab states maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel, yesterday suspended ties, following the example of Bolivia and Venezuela, which severed ties earlier this week.
Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking before talks with UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, called for Israel to be expelled from the world body.