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JERUSALEM-Israel and Hamas Islamists who control the Gaza Strip have both been holding their fire across the tense border as Egypt tries to mediate a truce, officials from both sides said on Monday.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denied any agreement to halt military action against militants in the coastal enclave, but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he believed Israel would go along with a deal.Abbas said Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the main groups in Gaza behind cross-border rocket fire at Israel, want assurances their leaders will not be attacked by the Jewish state.A Gaza truce sought by the Palestinian president could be key to U.S.-brokered peace efforts but likewise benefit Hamas, which seized the coastal enclave in June after routing Abbas's more secular Fatah forces.Israel has not struck in the Gaza Strip since Thursday, three days after it ended an offensive that killed 120 Palestinians.The number of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel has also dropped sharply since Olmert said last Wednesday Israeli forces would have no reason to attack Gaza if the daily salvoes stopped. Hamas's armed wing has not itself claimed responsibility for firing any rockets since Israel wrapped up its ground and air assault.In the absence of Israeli "aggression",Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the group had no cause to launch them."It seems that Hamas has decided for now not to shoot.And we're not shooting either," said an Israeli official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
