Israel continued its military operations in the Gaza Strip for the 21st day in a row and broke the truce it had previously declared, bringing the death toll to 1,139. Meanwhile, Israel's envoy Amos Gilad held talks in Egypt on a possible ceasefire. Cairo, for its part, called on Hamas leaders in Damascus to review the Israeli response to the truce proposals in light of the Egyptian initiative. Gilad traveled to Cairo yesterday for the second time in two days and met with Minister Omar Suleiman to inform Egypt of Israel's response to the ceasefire proposals. An informed Egyptian source said the outcome of Gilad's talks would be submitted to Hamas delegation. According to the source, Hamas wants a time-limited truce so that it can assess and review it should Israel not respect it, while Israel wants a permanent truce. Mohamed Nasr, member of Hamas political office, said Egypt had informed the movement of Israel's response and "asked us to go to Egypt to discuss it". Hamas delegation is expected to arrive over the next few hours. On the ground, Israel broke the temporary stop in its operations – from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – that it had declared for humanitarian purposes. It targeted dozens of houses, institutions and foundations owned by Hamas, the resistance and civilians. It also launched 40 raids on the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll to 1,139 (698 civilians), while the number of injured exceeded 5,150. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said the destruction brought about by Israel's attacks amounted to at least $1.4 billion. In Gaza, thousands of Palestinians from different factions held the funerals of Said Siyam, the interior minister in the Hamas-led deposed government, who was targeted by an Israeli raid together with his son and brother. Hamas' military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, warned in a statement that it would respond to the assassination through actions and not words. In the US, the American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni are going to sign an agreement today on arms smuggling into Gaza. In Egypt, more than 120,000 people held demonstrations, conferences and sits-in all across the country after Friday's prayer to voice their rejection of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. In a sermon, an imam in the city of el-Arish said the current leaders of the Islamic Nation lack knowledge, justice and courage.
