Hamas offers conditional ceasefire

Gazans' attempts at rescuing trapped bodies were hampered by continued attacks on Sunday [AFP]

Hamas and several allied Palestinian factions have announced a conditional, one-week ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, giving Israel seven days to pull out of the territory.

The move, following a meeting of the factions in Damascus, comes a day after Israel announced a unilateral ceasefire, ending its 22-day offensive in Gaza which has left at least 1,203 Palestinians dead.

"We in the Palestinian resistance movements announce a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and demand that enemy forces withdraw in a week and open all the border crossings to permit the entry of humanitarian aid and basic goods," Mussa Abu Marzuk, deputy leader of Hamas's political bureau, said in Damascus on Sunday.

Besides Hamas, Palestinian factions at the Damascus meeting included Islamic Jihad, Al Nidal, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and al Saeqa.

Israeli response

Israel says it will not consider a timetable for withdrawing all of its forces from the Gaza Strip until Hamas and other groups halt their fire.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Sunday, Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokesperson, said: "I am sorry, Hamas will not give Israel a deadline to pull out its troops.

"We will pull out the troops if and when we will decide that a permanent safe and secure situation has arrived in our country - which has not [yet]. Since from the morning we were targeted by 16 rockets from Hamas.

"We have to assess the situation every day and then see whether we are heading towards a stable secure situation or [if] we have to continue the operation.

"The operation is not over. This is only a holding of fire."

'Objectives achieved'

Palestinian factions have continued to fire rockets into southern Israel since the beginning of the offensive, killing three Israelis, out of a total of 13 Israelis that have died since the begining of the war.

IN DEPTH

Analysis and features from Gaza and Israel

Al Jazeera Labs: Report on and track the war

Send us your views and eyewitness videos

Watch our coverage of the war on Gaza
They have also been fighting Israel's ground forces which enterd the Gaza Strip in the second week of the offensive.

An end to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel was the stated aim of the Israeli offensive.

Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday, with Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, stating that the country had achieved its objectives.

"We have reached all the goals of the war, and beyond," he said. "[But] if our enemies decide to strike and want to carry on, then the Israeli army will regard itself as free to respond with force."

Olmert also said the war boosted Israel's deterrence and that Hamas's actions would decide when the military would withdraw.

"This operation strengthened the deterrence of the state of Israel in the face of all those who threaten us," he said.

"If Hamas completely stops its attacks, we will judge at what moment we will leave the Gaza Strip."

'Symbolic victory'

However, Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza City, said some in the Gaza Strip are claiming a victory for Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

"On an operational level on the last day of the war and even after the war Palestinian factions are still capable of firing rockets, no doubt about that.

Hamas and Israel declared independent ceasefires each with separate terms [AFP]
"In fact, more than a dozen or so have been fired today according to the factions here on the ground.

"On a symbolic level, at the end of the day the Palestinian people remain here on the ground, having paid a very heavy price though.

"Their position was one of steadfast defiance. The fact that they can stay and essentially ... claim that they have been able to stave off this aggression, in terms of the leadership and the command and control structure of Hamas and the government here, is certainly a sign for many here that they have been victorious."

'Extremely fragile'

At least 16 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Sunday morning after it declared its ceasefire.

Israel responded with air attacks, according to Israeli sources.

Barnaby Phillips, Al Jazeera's correspondent, reporting from near the Gaza-Israel border, said that the situation is extremely fragile.

"This ceasefire ... could go horribly wrong at any moment. There are thousands of troops in Gaza. We did see some withdraw we think this morning, we are not sure of numbers but they are in close proximity to Hamas fighters," he said.

Rockets follow Israeli 'cessation'



The three-week war caused billions of dollars worth of damage to Gaza's infrastructure [GALLO/GETTY]

Palestinian fighters exchanged gunfire with Israeli forces in the besieged Gaza Strip just hours after Israel declared its unilateral end to hostilities.

Fighting broke out in Jabaliya on Sunday, as Israeli military aircraft dropped flares into the northern Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian factions fired six rockets into southern Israel, with some landing in the town of Sderot.

Israeli tanks and troops remain in the former settlement of Netzarim but many have pulled back fro urban centres to open land near the border.

Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, announced a "ceasefire" overnight, claiming Israel had achieved its military objectives.

The cabinet is expected to ratify the decision on Sunday. No plan to withdraw Israeli artillery and ground troops has been announced.

The Palestinian faction Hamas, which is the de facto ruler in Gaza, was not consulted in Israel's unilateral cessation. Hamas leaders say the "resistance movement" will continue to fight as long as Israeli troops remain inside Gaza.

They have also maintained their pre-war demand that Israel ends its crippling 18-month blockade to allow for the free-flow of goods into the Palestinian territory.

Scepticism

As the cessation was set to begin, an Israeli military statement said Israel would "respond to any attack against Israeli civilians or soldiers".

IN DEPTH

Analysis and features from Gaza and Israel

Track the war and submit your own reports


Send us your views and eyewitness videos
At daybreak on Sunday, what sounded like machine-gun fire could be heard from Jabaliya near the Gaza-Israel border.

"We have heard a number of sustained gunshots," Al Jazeera's Zeina Awad reported.

"There is also a thick layer of cloud which would reduce the visibility on the ground in Gaza.

"We saw four rockets launched, literally within seconds of each other. We also heard the sirens going off in Israel."

Israeli reconnaissance drones and helicopters could be heard throughout the night, and Gaza residents said they could hear troops and tanks rolling through the streets.

After more than three weeks of war in the Gaza Strip, 1,203 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,200 injured. Palestinians say they fear the assault could resume at any moment. Thirteen Israelis have also died since the start of hostilities on December 27.

Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Gaza, said that 25 bodies were recovered on Sunday from areas that had previously been inaccessible due to the fighting.

"The death toll is expected to rise significantly as paramedics reach these areas," he said.

Night fighting

According to Israeli military officials, Palestinian groups launched at least eight rockets into southern Israel between Olmert's announcement of "victory", and the declared deadline of 2am (00:00GMT) passing.

No one was injured in the attacks.

Israel kept up its assault until the last hour, carrying out more than 50 air raids overnight.

The Israeli military claims to have significantly damaged the capability of Hamas by killing a number of its senior commanders, as well as destroying its weapons stockpiles and smuggling tunnels.

Some Israeli soldiers return while others remain in the Gaza Strip [Reuters]
Yet in the 24 hours before Israel's ceasefire, Hamas's military wing and other armed Palestinian groups were reported to have fired more than 30 rockets and mortar rounds over the border - a signal that it still has firepower.

Analysts exhibited only scepticism that the halt in violence would last.

Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, told Al Jazeera that the "unilateral ceasefire has no chance of being a durable ceasefire".

"Israel has tried many unilateral approaches and each one of them has simply made the situation worse for Israel," he said.

"There is no chance of any unilateral move by Israel having any success. It has to be a negotiated agreement that responds to the basic legitimate needs of both sides.

Sharm summit

Israel decided on its unilateral ceasefire in preference to entering into an Egyptian-brokered truce with Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, analysts say.

This allows Israel to avoid agreeing concessions with the Palestinian group, such as easing the blockade that has prevented medical aid and basic supplies from reaching the civilian population. Much of the Strip remains without a power supply and Save the Children reports that one in four children in Gaza is malnourished.

Egypt has been pushing Israel and the rival Palestinian factions to reach an agreement.

A summit aimed at giving international backing to Israel's proposal is planned in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh later on Sunday.

It is to be attended by the leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey, Jordan and the Czech Republic - which holds the rotating EU presidency - as well as presidents Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.

It was not immediately clear whether Israel would send a representative, and Hamas has not been invited.