Israel bombards Hamas hours before cease-fire vote

[Nagishkaw 510]

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel bombarded dozens of Hamas targets Saturday hours before a government vote on an Egyptian brokered cease-fire, prompting Egypt to demand an immediate halt to the 3-week-old Gaza offensive.

Hamas sent mixed signals about whether it will accept the cease-fire proposal. Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman linked to the group's leadership-in-exile in Syria, said militants would keep fighting.

Hamas "will not bow to invading forces, will not raise the white flag," he said in Turkey.

But after weeks of heavy losses, leaders inside Gaza have signaled they are ready for a deal and a Hamas delegation was in Cairo for more truce negotiations.

More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health officials, and 13 Israelis have also died.

Israel's 12-member Security Cabinet was expected to approve the Egyptian proposal for an immediate 10-day cease-fire. Israeli forces would remain in Gaza and the territory's border crossings with Israel and Egypt would remain closed until security arrangements are made to prevent Hamas arms smuggling.

Under the deal, Egypt would shut down weapons smuggling routes with international help and discussions on opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings — Hamas' key demand — would take place at a later date.

The Israeli vote was set after Israel and the U.S. signed on Friday a "memorandum of understanding" in Washington that calls for expanded intelligence cooperation to prevent Hamas from rearming. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who signed the deal with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, called it "a vital complement for a cessation of hostility."

Egypt has been a key interlocutor in weeks of negotiations to end the assault on Gaza sparked by years of Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel.

"I demand Israel today stop its military operations immediately. I demand from its leaders an immediate and unconditional cease-fire and I demand from them a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip," Mubarak said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090117/ap_on_...el_palestinians