Egypt holds talks with Hamas on truce with Israel

GAZA-Egypt launched talks on Thursday with Hamas and Islamic Jihad on a truce between the Palestinian militant movements and Israel, officials in the groups said.An end to rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip and suspension of Israeli raids into the Hamas-run territory would make it easier for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to continue to negotiate peace with the Jewish state.The talks got under way in El Arish, an Egyptian town just south of the Gaza Strip, three days after Israel ended a northern Gaza offensive that killed more than 120 Palestinians, about half of them identified as civilians.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined to comment on the meetings in El Arish but, at a news conference in Brussels, expressed "trust" Egyptian efforts could further U.S.-backed peace talks."It is extremely important that there be an effort to bring calm there," Rice said, calling Cairo a "good ally".Abbas suspended U.S.-brokered negotiations with Israel in protest at the bloodshed. Rice, who visited Israel and the occupied West Bank, said Abbas agreed to resume the talks.Hamas officials said one of the group's senior leaders, Mahmoud al-Zahar, was heading its delegation in El Arish.Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad leader, said the group sent a team to the Egyptian city for "talks about calm".
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