State orders IDF to curb strikes against Hamas

[bemildred]

This is big news if it is true.

The government recently ordered the Israel Defense Forces to exercise restraint in operations in the Gaza Strip, pursuant to what a senior government official termed new rules of the game forged in the aftermath of last week's military operation in Gaza.

The official credited these rules, under which Israel will not attack Gaza as long as Hamas does not fire at Israel, with the recent lull in violence. Yet at the same time, he charged, they completely contradict last week's cabinet decision, which stated that Israel should keep up the military pressure on Hamas.

The volume of rocket fire from Gaza has declined sharply in recent days: Since last Friday, Palestinians have fired only three Qassam rockets at Israel, compared to some 50 a day during the previous week. The IDF, for its part, has withdrawn all ground troops from the Strip and also halted aerial assaults.
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The government official stressed that there is no formal agreement with Hamas. Rather, he said, unofficial rules were formulated during U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit last week, via a series of messages, both open and secret, exchanged by Israel and Hamas.

Rice apparently relayed a proposal for resuming the lull that Hamas had transmitted via Egypt, and on her departure last Wednesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert responded publicly, saying: "If they don't fire Qassams at us, we won't attack in Gaza." Since then, both sides have sharply reduced the volume of fire.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/962403.html