Truce trade-off calms Gaza

2008-07-08 20:14

Gaza - An Israel-Hamas truce has boiled down to a simple trade-off: For a day of calm, Israel adds five truckloads of cows and 200 tons of cement to its shipment of the barest basics to Gaza, but it punishes sporadic rocket fire by resealing the territory for a day.

Since the cease-fire deal was reached nearly three weeks ago, the trickle of extra goods has barely made a difference in the daily lives of 1.4 million Gazans, who have been cut off from the world since the Hamas takeover a year ago.

Under the Egyptian-brokered deal, Gaza's Hamas rulers are to halt rocket and mortar fire on Israeli border communities, and Israel is to increase the flow of goods into Gaza.

After the takeover, Israel largely sealed the territory, allowing only basic foods and medicines to enter. Once the truce takes hold firmly, an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants two years ago is to be freed in a prisoner swap.

On Tuesday, each side blamed the other for lack of progress.

Hamas has not reined in all militants, particularly those from rival groups and the Israeli army said 15 rockets and mortars had been fired since the truce took effect on June 19, including a mortar shell on Tuesday.

Hamas said Israel closed border crossings for seven of 17 days of post-truce operations.

"The calm is not shaky. The Israeli commitment to the calm is shaky," said Said Siyam, a senior Hamas official, before heading to Cairo for more truce talks with Egyptian officials.

Despite some attempts to defuse tensions, both sides have stuck to pre-truce behaviour.

- AP