(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-11 19:17

GAZA -- Egypt's efforts to reinforce a ceasefire in Gaza started to develop with a relative calm in the few past days, a local Palestinian news agency reported on Tuesday.

The Maan independent news agency quoted Palestinian sources as saying that the current calmness in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, following unprecedented military escalation in early March, is a result of the US-backed Egyptian efforts to broker a ceasefire between armed Palestinian groups, led by Hamas, and Israel.

The success of the developing Egyptian efforts "is subject to binding guarantees to make the calmness last," the sources said.

On Monday, Hamas denied statements by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Hamas and Israel were about to reach a deal stopping the firing of Qassam rockets from Gaza in exchange for an Israeli pledge not to target Hamas leaders.

According to Maan, Hamas conditioned the truce on stopping Israeli army raids into Gaza Strip and lifting the siege that Israel imposed since last June when Hamas took over the territory by force from pro-Abbas security services.

Moreover, Hamas also demanded reopening of Rafah border crossing on a new bilateral deal between Egypt and the Islamic movement.

However, Egypt can not deal with Hamas' request solely. Egypt just proposes that the Gaza closure could be eased at least for the time being by reopening Rafah border crossing according to a US-brokered international deal reached between Israel, Palestinian Authority (PA) and Egypt.

The Egyptian efforts hope to reinforce the ceasefire as a backup for a package of solutions that will also include reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement and resuming talks on exchanging Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza since 2006.