Egypt dispatched its powerful intelligence chief to Israel on Monday in an attempt to mediate an end to months of violence in the Gaza Strip, but Israeli leaders said there would be no truce unless Gaza militants release an Israeli soldier they have held captive for nearly two years, according to AP. As mediator Omar Suleiman completed his talks, militants fired a rocket from Gaza that struck a house in an Israeli village, killing a 70-year-old woman, rescue services said. Islamic Jihad said it fired rockets at the time of the fatal attack. The rocket hit a house in the village of Yesha, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Gaza, farther away than the usual targets of rockets fired by Gaza militants. Suleiman's meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other top leaders were aimed at wrapping up a cease-fire between Israel's military and Palestinian gunmen in Gaza. Israeli troops regularly clash there with militants who fire rockets at Israeli towns and attack border patrols. Suleiman told reporters that he had «high expectations» for the visit. But he made little apparent progress.
