A proposed truce in the Gaza strip was rejected by a senior Israeli minister on Thursday, as the air force killed a commander suspected of being involved in the capture of an Israeli soldier in 2006.
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit said that Israel would not accept any Egypt-brokered deal on Gaza, saying that it would only serve to strengthen Hamas. Sheetrit's comments came as the air force confirmed that they had killed Nafiz Mansoor, a Hamas terror operative who they say was involved in terror attacks against Israel.
Mansur has notably been linked with the capture of Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was seized by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid from Gaza in 2006. Hamas confirmed that Mansur had been killed and said that it would respond. Forty year-old Mansur was killed near his home in Rafah. Three others were wounded in the air strike. Gaza militants responded, firing at least eight rockets into southern Israel, but no casualties were reported on the Israeli side.
Egypt has intervened as a mediator to try and end the stalemate in the Palestinian territory, holding talks which have brought together representatives of Hamas and Fatah, the party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, along with almost a dozen other factions. Results of the talks are to be presented to Israel in the coming days.
Hamas has already stipulated that Israel must lift the blockade that it has imposed following the seizure of control of Gaza by Hamas militants last June as part of any truce.
