JERUSALEM — Israel and Hamas have agreed to an Egyptian-brokered mutual cease-fire for the Gaza area starting Thursday morning, Egyptian and Hamas officials announced on Tuesday.
“The Palestinian and Israeli sides have accepted the first stage of a reciprocal and simultaneous period of calm, starting in the Gaza Strip, from 0600 on Thursday,” an unidentified senior Egyptian official told the state news agency MENA.
Mahmoud Zahar, a leader of Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza, confirmed at a news conference there on Tuesday evening that a truce was about to come into effect and would last for six months.
Israeli officials reiterated their position that the government was ready for an Egyptian-brokered deal, but said that some of the details were still being finalized.
“It is not a done deal yet,” an Israeli government official said on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the continuing discussions. “We are awaiting clarifications from Cairo.”
Defense Minister Ehud Barak of Israel said in a speech on Tuesday evening that it was “still early to declare” an agreement for calm, “and it is difficult to determine how long it will last.”
Events on Tuesday, meanwhile, showed that both sides are liable to fire up to the last minute. Israel carried out three airstrikes in Gaza against what the military described as “terrorist operatives.” Six Palestinian militants were killed, according to medical officials in Gaza.
Hamas and the smaller, more radical Islamic Jihad both said they reserved the right to respond.
Islamic Jihad said that four of the dead belonged to its military wing. But the Israeli military named three of those killed as members of the Army of Islam, a small, shadowy organization inspired by Al Qaeda. The military identified one of the dead as Muataz Dagmush, 29, a senior member and a brother of the leader of the group, and said he had been planning a large-scale terrorist attack against unidentified Israeli targets.
The Army of Islam was involved, along with Hamas, in the capture of an Israeli corporal, Gilad Shalit, in a cross-border raid in June 2006. Corporal Shalit has been held in Gaza ever since.
Israel now seeks to halt the rocket and mortar fire from Gaza that has killed four Israeli civilians this year and has caused widespread trauma and disruption of life in Israeli towns and villages close to the Gaza border. In addition, it has insisted that any deal be based on an end to Hamas’s military build-up in Gaza, and movement toward the release of Corporal Shalit.
Hamas wants an end to the frequent Israeli military strikes and incursions into Gaza, and an easing of the economic blockade that Israel has imposed since Hamas took over the area a year ago.
Mr. Zahar said that Israel would open the commercial crossings on its border with Gaza as soon as the truce comes into effect. Two weeks later, he said, Egypt would host talks aimed at reopening the Rafah crossing on its border with Gaza. Mr. Zahar suggested that the Shalit case would be dealt with in separate talks.
Israel, like the United States and the European Union, classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization and rejects any direct dealings with it. Israeli officials are therefore likely to portray any deal as an informal understanding whereby Israel responds to calm with calm, rather than a negotiated agreement with Hamas.
“Words are important, but deeds are more so,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, suggesting that Hamas would be judged by its actions. But he did not rule out further flexibility toward the Islamic group.
“If indeed there will be a total cessation of fire from Gaza, an end of the Hamas arms build-up and movement on Gilad Shalit’s case, then there will be a very new situation,” Mr. Regev said.
The Israeli government has come under increasing domestic pressure to decide between a broad military thrust aimed at stopping the rocket fire or an agreement for calm. Egypt has been mediating between Israel and Hamas for months. Last week Israel’s Security Cabinet opted to pursue the truce in apparent contradiction with a previous decision to work strenuously against the Hamas regime in Gaza.
Haim Ramon, an Israeli vice premier, was one of four ministers who abstained in the cabinet vote. “I oppose the lull, because it’s another victory for radical Islam,” Mr. Ramon said on Tuesday evening. “It won in Lebanon and now it will be winning in Gaza. So why be moderate? After all, why is Hamas seeking an agreement? Because this will be its chance to represent Gaza as the state of Hamastan.”
Many Israelis are skeptical that Hamas will use a period of quiet to regroup. But the military option also has pitfalls. Army officials have repeatedly warned that an offensive could prove bloody and inconclusive.
Nevertheless, the army has been instructed to continue preparations for a concerted military action should the truce break down.
Even on Tuesday Israeli security officials cautioned that the truce would, by nature, be temporary and fragile.
Past understandings with the militant organizations have broken down within months, with the smaller groups never having been brought under control.
This time Israel is insisting that Hamas halts all the fire from Gaza, and will hold it responsible for any actions by smaller groups.
The fragility of any cease-fire deal was illustrated on Tuesday after Islamic Jihad announced the loss of four members of its armed wing in one of the Israeli strikes. The militants were traveling in a vehicle near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza when they were hit.
“We are calling on all the factions to escalate their actions in response to the Israeli crimes,” said Daoud Shihab, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad. He added that his group would not be an obstacle to a truce agreement, but that “nothing can prevent us from responding,” also to any future Israeli military actions in the West Bank.
Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, said the Palestinians had the right to respond up until the time that the truce comes into effect.
Taghreed El-Khodary contributed reporting from Gaza.
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