AFP, Gaza City :
A fragile ceasefire around Gaza held for a second day Friday as Israel’s relations with its US ally showed new signs of strain with tough talks looming on a more lasting peace.
Washington denied a report that the White House was tightening the reins on the routine delivery of military aid to Israel over concerns about the proportionality of its military action in Gaza.
But the State Department acknowledged that arms shipments were being kept under review in the face of a conflict that has killed 1,962 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side since July 8.
Egyptian mediators won a new five-day ceasefire late Wednesday to give Israeli and Palestinian negotiators more time to thrash out a longer-term truce.
The ceasefire got off to a rocky start in its first few hours but Israeli officials said it had held into a second day Friday.
The military said there was no Palestinian rocket fire overnight and that it had carried out no air strikes.
“There was nothing,” a spokeswoman told AFP.
But the negotiations in Cairo for a longer-term settlement were not expected to resume before Saturday evening as negotiators from both sides held consultations with their political leaderships about the parameters for an eventual compromise.
Gaza’s Islamist de facto rulers Hamas, who have representation on the Palestinian negotiating team, are insisting that there can no return to peace
without a lifting of Israel’s eight-year blockade of the beleaguered coastal enclave.
But Israel’s rightwing government-under pressure from constituents from Gaza border towns that have endured persistent rocket fire from the territory-is refusing to countenance any major reconstruction effort without full demilitarisation.
Thousands of Israelis joined by the mayor of the border town of Sderot, Alon Davidi-a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party-rallied in Tel Aviv late Thursday against any outcome that does not provide them with lasting security.
“This is a universal principle. We want to live in peace,” Davidi told the crowd.
The army says Palestinian militants in Gaza have launched more than 3,500 rockets since July 8. More than 2,790 have slammed into Israel and around 600 have been shot down.
Netanyahu was to convene his security cabinet for a second day Friday to hammer out a negotiating position for the resumed truce talks.
The Israeli premier leans heavily on support in his governing coalition on parties to the right that advocate a wholesale reoccupation of Gaza which Israel evacuated in 2005.
A fragile ceasefire around Gaza held for a second day Friday as Israel’s relations with its US ally showed new signs of strain with tough talks looming on a more lasting peace.
Washington denied a report that the White House was tightening the reins on the routine delivery of military aid to Israel over concerns about the proportionality of its military action in Gaza.
But the State Department acknowledged that arms shipments were being kept under review in the face of a conflict that has killed 1,962 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side since July 8.
Egyptian mediators won a new five-day ceasefire late Wednesday to give Israeli and Palestinian negotiators more time to thrash out a longer-term truce.
The ceasefire got off to a rocky start in its first few hours but Israeli officials said it had held into a second day Friday.
The military said there was no Palestinian rocket fire overnight and that it had carried out no air strikes.
“There was nothing,” a spokeswoman told AFP.
But the negotiations in Cairo for a longer-term settlement were not expected to resume before Saturday evening as negotiators from both sides held consultations with their political leaderships about the parameters for an eventual compromise.
Gaza’s Islamist de facto rulers Hamas, who have representation on the Palestinian negotiating team, are insisting that there can no return to peace
without a lifting of Israel’s eight-year blockade of the beleaguered coastal enclave.
But Israel’s rightwing government-under pressure from constituents from Gaza border towns that have endured persistent rocket fire from the territory-is refusing to countenance any major reconstruction effort without full demilitarisation.
Thousands of Israelis joined by the mayor of the border town of Sderot, Alon Davidi-a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party-rallied in Tel Aviv late Thursday against any outcome that does not provide them with lasting security.
“This is a universal principle. We want to live in peace,” Davidi told the crowd.
The army says Palestinian militants in Gaza have launched more than 3,500 rockets since July 8. More than 2,790 have slammed into Israel and around 600 have been shot down.
Netanyahu was to convene his security cabinet for a second day Friday to hammer out a negotiating position for the resumed truce talks.
The Israeli premier leans heavily on support in his governing coalition on parties to the right that advocate a wholesale reoccupation of Gaza which Israel evacuated in 2005.
