CNN, Gaza City :A Palestinian delegation threatened to walk away from the truce talks in Cairo on Sunday if Israeli negotiators don’t show up.Israel has resisted in-depth talks as long as Gaza rockets continue to head toward its territory.The rockets have been met with Israeli airstrikes in recent days, dimming hopes of a cease-fire in the Israeli-Gaza conflict that has raged since last month.Israeli negotiators left talks last week. On Sunday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said they would not return until rockets from Gaza stop. “We will not negotiate under fire,” he said.Palestinians said an Israeli no-show means they are walking away, too.”If the Israelis do not come, we will leave to consult with our leadership,” said Izzat Al-Risheq, a member of the Palestinian negotiation team. “We gave our demands to the Egyptian delegation seven days ago. We have not received any official response yet.” Hamas, the Islamic group and political party that controls Gaza, has said it will not settle.”We will not return to the status quo,” it said in a statement on its website. “The resistance will continue in all its strength and we will not stop pushing for our people’s demands.”The Egyptian foreign ministry, which brokered recent talks, has said the parties had reached an agreement on most issues. Those not agreed upon were few and limited, the ministry said in a statement. Still, there’s too much history between the two sides, an agreement on some issues will not necessarily lead to a grander breakthrough.Palestinians have asked for Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza and to re-open the air and seaports, a negotiator who spoke on condition of anonymity said. Israeli authorities fear Hamas could import weapons by sea and maintains a ship blockade off Gaza’s shores.Palestinians also wanted Israel to extend Gaza’s fishing zone in the Mediterranean from three miles off the coast to 20. Fishing is a keystone of Gazan livelihoods. But Israel was willing to extend fishing rights to only six miles off the coast, said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.With the latest failed cease-fire quickly becoming a distant memory, the two sides in the Israel-Gaza conflict traded blame, rockets and airstrikes on Saturday.There have been efforts to halt the bloodshed as well as to broach some of the thorny issues related to it. And there have been some breakthroughs, including a few cease-fires. Yet none of those peacemaking attempts, so far, has stuck. The death toll’s climb has slowed since Israel announced overnight into Saturday an end of its ground incursion in Gaza-even as it continued to strike from the air. Israeli forces say troops redeployed after completing their mission of destroying Hamas’ tunnels.On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the operation continues.According to el-Qedra, at least 1,911 in Gaza have died since the conflict began, in addition to just under 10,000 injured.On Sunday, a 17-year-old boy was added to the dead, and several others were wounded in an Israeli strike the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said.
