Israel: cease-fire not imminent
An Israeli Cabinet minister said on Thursday that a pullout of troops from Gaza was not imminent and that Israel's army would continue hunting Palestinian cross-border tunnels under any humanitarian truce.
Egyptians mediating between Israel and Gaza's dominant Hamas Islamists have said hostilities could be suspended, perhaps by the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival early next week, to allow aid to reach the territory and to facilitate more permanent truce talks.
"I do not see a cease-fire in the coming days where the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) leave," Science Minister Yaakov Peri, a former security chief, told the Walla news site, adding that troops needed more time to complete their mission of destroying cross-border tunnels used by Gaza guerrillas.
Reuters
(China Daily 07/25/2014 page11)
