Hamas, Gaza Cease-fire | featured news

Israel rules out a truce in Gaza unless an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants is freed, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert says.

Hamas officials said Friday that an announcement of an 18-month cease-fire with Israel was days away. An Israeli official said nothing had been agreed yet.

As Israel prepared to launch its assault into Gaza in late December, it braced for substantial casualties among its own troops. Commanders warned their men of Hamas' suicide commandos, missiles that could smash tanks and knock helicopters out of the sky, and long-range rockets that could reach deeper into Israel.

Palestinian militants fired mortar shells from southern Gaza at Israel and Israel carried out an air strike against what the military said were members of the launching squad.

Senior officials in the Islamic group Hamas are indicating a willingness to negotiate a deal for a long-term truce with Israel as long as the borders of Gaza are opened to the rest of the world.

The Israeli military said that Palestinians detonated an explosive device near troops patrolling on the Israeli side of the Gaza border in the first incident since the cease-fire.

A fragile halt to the devastating 22-day battle opened the way for intensified efforts to build a more durable peace.

The announcement, 12 hours after Israel declared its own cease-fire, came after a flurry of rocket launches.

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip launched rockets into southern Israel on Sunday in defiance of the unilateral ceasefire that Israel declared hours earlier.

The U.S. has agreed to a range of measures, including providing international monitors, to help stem the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.