Gaza Truce Talks Face New Midnight Deadline

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Cairo faced a new midnight deadline Tuesday to end the bloodshed in Gaza after agreeing overnight to extend an existing truce by 24 hours.

News of the last-minute extension was confirmed by both sides shortly before a five-day ceasefire was to expire at midnight local time (2100 GMT Monday).

Egyptian mediators have been pushing both sides to put a decisive end to weeks of bloodshed in Gaza, which has killed more than 2,000 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side.

The talks in Cairo center on an Egyptian proposal that meets some of the Palestinian demands, such as easing Israel's eight-year blockade on Gaza, but defer debate on other thorny issues until later.

The aim is to broker a long-term arrangement to halt more than a month of bloody fighting, although both sides have largely silenced their guns since August 4 thanks to a series of temporary truces.

Talks at the headquarters of Egyptian intelligence resumed around 0800 GMT, a Palestinian official told AFP.

Although the back-to-back truce agreements have brought relief to millions on both sides of the border, the drawn-out waiting and the fear of a resumption of fighting was beginning to test people's patience.

"No one here has any hope," said Riyad Abul Sultan, a father of 10 with thick curly hair, smoking as he sat on a flimsy mattress at a U.N. school in Gaza.

"Maybe they'll finish the war for two hours, maybe Israel will start bombing again."

"We want a ceasefire for always, not for three days or for three days," agreed his wife, Wafa.

"The Israelis are enjoying some quiet. But me, my house is destroyed and I'm living with my husband and my kids in a U.N. school," snapped Manal Abu Abed, 40.

"Let them either kill us or let us live with some dignity!"

The warring parties are once again faced with three choices -- either they reach a long-term agreement, accept a further extension or risk a resumption of the fighting.

The Palestinians say agreement over a long-term arrangement in Gaza has been delayed by Israeli foot-dragging over key issues such as a port and an airport.

"The negotiations failed on Monday evening because the Israelis refused to include a port or an airport in the agreement," a Palestinian source close to the talks told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The Egyptians then added a clause allowing for the postponement of talks on this issue in order to avoid Israel raising the issue of (disarming Gaza from) rockets and missiles," he said.

Israel has repeatedly demanded that Gaza be demilitarized although the subject is not overly mentioned in the Egyptian proposal as seen by AFP.

Islamic Jihad on Tuesday accused Israel of "intransigence" while Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the Jewish state was "playing for time" at the talks.

"The negotiations have faced difficulties because of the occupation's obstinacy, and the 24 hour (extension) came as a result of a request by the mediators to have another chance," politburo member Izzat al-Rishq wrote on Twitter late on Monday.

Hamas had repeatedly warned it would not extend the temporary ceasefire again, pressing for immediate gains that would allow it to claim concessions from Israel after the devastating four-week war, which began on July 8.

But a senior official within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said the Islamist movement appeared to have changed its position following a meeting at the weekend between exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat.

"It looks like Hamas and Islamic Jihad will agree to the Egyptian paper," he told AFP.

The Egyptian proposal calls for both sides to immediately cease fire, and includes provisions relating to opening the borders to allow for free movement of people, goods and construction materials, as well as a clause on regulating the financial crisis within the enclave.

But crucially, it postpones discussions on the thorniest issues, such as a port and airport in Gaza, for another month "after calm and stability returns," along with talks over exchanging the remains of two Israeli soldiers for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Monday's deadline marked the end of the third temporary ceasefire in a fortnight.

Israel's army radio used a football analogy, saying the Cairo talks had passed extra time and were now entering the penalties stage.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the army would have "a very strong response" should there be any resumption of fire on southern Israel in a move Hamas dismissed as having "no weight".