GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian Interior
Ministry in Gaza accused Israel on Friday of a cross-border shooting in
violation of a truce that has largely held since getting off to a shaky
start on Thursday.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said: "We have no knowledge of
such an incident."
The Palestinian ministry in the coastal territory dominated by Hamas
Islamists said Israeli troops shot at houses east of the town of
Khan Younis.
The ceasefire, renewed on Thursday for five days after a previous
truce expired, has largely halted more than a month of fighting in
which 1,945 Palestinians, many of them civilians, 64 Israeli
soldiers and three civilians in Israel were killed.
The truce got off to a rocky start with Israel launching an air raid
early on Thursday in response to rocket fire from Gaza in violation
of the earlier truce.
There were no reported casualties in any of these incidents.
The latest ceasefire, mediated by Egypt, gave the parties an
additional five days, until late on Monday to come up with a
comprehensive agreement to end the war in Gaza.
Negotiations hosted in Cairo were expected to reconvene on Sunday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet debated the
emerging deal at a meeting held behind closed-doors on Friday, after
a protest by 10,000 Israelis in Tel Aviv, angry at the war's
inconclusive results and the prospect of facing more rocket fire
from Gaza once the truce comes to an end.
An Israeli official said after Friday's meeting that any deal struck
in Egypt had to "provide clearly for security arrangements" for
Israel. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined
to elaborate.
Few precise details of the indirect negotiations have emerged, but
the broad outlines are well known: the Palestinians want an end to
Israel's blockade of Gaza, an extension of the strip's maritime and
security boundaries and the building of a sea port and reopening of
an airport in the enclave.
For their part, the Israelis want an end to rocket fire from Gaza,
the full demilitarisation of the territory, and for the Palestinian
Authority headed by Western-allied President Mahmoud Abbas to take
over responsibility for managing Gaza's 12 km (7.5 mile) border with
Egypt at Rafah, an effort to prevent the smuggling of weapons and
other military-use equipment.
(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Alison Williams)
