Israeli, Palestinian officials ready for truce in Gaza

Israeli and Palestinian officials expressed readiness Sunday for a ceasefire to end theupsurge of violence in Gaza that saw Israel committing more massacres amid an international traditional silence, not suspicious anymore.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that the group would be willing to stop firing if Israel announced a ceasefire. "The ball is in the court of the occupation," Abu Zuhri told AFP.

"Our message to the occupation is that a truce will be met with a truce. We are not interested in escalation and the Palestinian factions are defending themselves and the Palestinian people in the face of Israeli escalation," he said.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian official close to UN- and Egyptian-mediated negotiations told Reuters Israel and Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza had agreed terms for a truce to end four days of cross-border violence. "Palestinian factions have agreed to halt rocket fire and Israel agreed to cease attacks on the Gaza Strip," the official said.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that any further attacks would be dealt with harshly. "If the criminal attacks against the Israeli military and civilians continue, Israel will respond with even more force," he told reporters at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting.

But Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved truce reports and said that Israel was ready to end the confrontation, if Hamas and other armed groups stopped firing. "If they cease firing, we'll cease firing," he said, reacting to reports that Hamas was ready for a truce. "We will act along the lines of what happens on the ground," added Barak, who indefinitely postponed a trip to Washington as violence escalated around the territory.

On Saturday, Hamas declared a state of emergency in the face of the deadly Israeli reprisals against Gaza, ordering its security forces to "work 24 hours a day along with the civil defense and medical services to protect and save inhabitants taken as targets by the Zionist occupier."

Israeli media reported that the United States has promised Israel $205 million to fund an additional four batteries of the Iron Dome system, which Netanyahu was due to tour later on Sunday.