A senior Islamic Hamas movement denied on Friday any immediate announcement of ceasefire with Israel for stopping Israeli military actions into the Gaza Strip.
Ismail Radwan said "the reports which said that Hamas would declare soon a ceasefire with the occupation (Israel) are totally untrue because the occupation thwarted the Egyptian efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement."
"I confirm that any ceasefire agreement should be linked to ending the blockade, stopping the aggression and reopening all Gaza Strip borders crossings and terminals," Radwan told reporters.
A source close to the Islamic Hamas movement told Xinhua late on Thursday night that Hamas has told Egypt that it might declare a period of calm with Israel in a few hours.
The source said on condition of anonymity that Hamas has informed the Egyptian mediators that they will agree to a period of calm with Israel on one condition that the Jewish state stops aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Israel launched a massive military operation on Gaza at the end of the year 2008, aiming at preventing Gaza militants from firing rockets at southern Israeli communities.
The military campaign lasted for 22 days before Israel and the Palestinian factions in Gaza, mainly the Islamic Hamas, announced unilateral ceasefire respectively.
Since the end of the war, Egypt has been mediating between Israel and Hamas to achieve a long-term ceasefire.
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2009)
