By Xinhua,
Gaza : Egyptian efforts to promote a ceasefire in Gaza Strip are still going on and did not fail, a Hamas official said on Saturday.
Hamas has “received Israel’s response to the Egyptian initiative and handed out the Egyptians some more questions and now wait Israel’s clarifications,” said Ahmed Yousef, an aide to deposed premier Ismail Haneya of Hamas.
The Islamic movement “will make its decision after it gets the Israeli response on the questions it raised,” Yousef added.
Egypt proposed a six-month ceasefire starting in the Gaza Strip. Hamas and the Palestinian factions accepted the offer but Israel insisted to retrieve a captive soldier, held hostage by Hamas since June 2006, under the lull’s deal.
A Hamas delegation, which heard Israel’s response in Cairo, returned to Gaza on Thursday amid reports of the failure of the Egyptian efforts.
Meanwhile, Yousef said the Israeli demands to release the captive Corporal Gilad Shalit were meant to hinder the “calmness,” adding that the ball is in Israel’s court.
Israel stepped up its military operations in the Gaza Strip and tightened the closure on the impoverished strip in June 2007 when Hamas took over the territory by force.