Israel said Wednesday it accepted an Egyptian-brokered truce with Hamas which would go into effect at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) Thursday. It also urged Lebanon to open peace talks, the latest move in a flurry of developments aimed at easing the multiple conflicts in the region. Government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel was interested in “direct, bilateral” talks with Lebanon and ready to put “every issue of contention” on the table, including a key border dispute over a tiny patch of land Israel controls. Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defense official, said after returning from talks in Cairo that “an understanding” had been reached. Israeli and Palestinian officials said under the truce, the blockade Israel imposed on the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized the territory a year ago would be loosened gradually and partially. “Everybody knows the situation in Gaza, where 1.5 million people living there are absolutely miserable,” said Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. “Our hope is that (the ceasefire) would lead to an easing of those difficult conditions.” But Meir Sheetrit, Israel's interior minister and a member of its security cabinet, said he was “very skeptical” Hamas could enforce a complete ceasefire among the groups. “The idea is a complete ceasefire – no fire from anyone ... if there is any violation of the agreement, the government is free to return to act with full force,” Sheetrit said. The truce does not cover the occupied West Bank. But Abu Hamza, a spokesman for the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, said the group reserved the right to respond with force. In an interview in the United Arab Emirates, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said a lasting truce would be good for Gazans.
