By Xinhua,
Gaza : Israel has offered Islamic Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements in Gaza, through Egypt, an offer to agree on a one-year truce in the Gaza Strip, the London-based Saudi Arabia daily al-Hayat reported on Monday.
The daily quoted well-informed Palestinian sources as saying that the truce will be for six months or one year, and will include only the Gaza Strip, where militants refrain from launching homemade rockets at Israel.
“Israel insists that the truce should only include the Gaza Strip and rejects a truce in the West Bank, which contradicts with what Gaza militant groups want,” the sources told the daily.
Israel had imposed a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip and closed all the border crossing points after Hamas movement took control of the Gaza Strip last summer, while terming the enclave as “a hostile entity.”
According to the sources, if Israel’s offer is accepted, Israel will check the Palestinian commitments and in return it will ease restrictions and agree to open Gaza border crossings, particularly the terminal between Gaza and Egypt.
Meanwhile, the daily quoted other Palestinian sources as saying that Hamas accepts in principles the Israeli offer, but the Islamic Jihad and other Gaza factions do not accept it and insist that the West Bank has to be included.