The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Cairo

The Palestinian group Hamas is proposing a six-month cease-fire with Israel, saying it will stop firing rockets out of Gaza if the Jewish state simultaneously lifts its blockade of the coastal strip, Egypt's state run MENA news agency said Thursday night.

The report followed a day of closed meetings between Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar and Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, who has been mediating between Israel and the Islamic militant group in hopes of halting their fighting.

Hamas has taken a much softer stance the past week, but any deal appeared distant. While Egypt clearly is acting as a communications channel between the two sides, Israel insists it won't negotiate with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, as does the United States. Hamas officials, who previously have called for Israel to first lift its blockade before any truce, could not be reached by The Associated Press late Thursday to comment on the MENA report. There was no immediate reaction from Israel.

MENA's report came two days after senior members of Hamas said the group was willing to accept a truce limited to the Gaza Strip, dropping a long-standing demand that the West Bank be included in a halt to fighting with Israel.

Israeli officials responded to those comments by saying Israel would keep up military pressure on Hamas as long as the group threatened Israeli civilians, an allusion to near daily rocket salvos at towns in southern Israel and recent militant attacks on border posts. The Hamas representatives said Tuesday that the group's position would be laid out Thursday during the meeting with Suleiman.

"We have affirmed the group's approval of a truce in Gaza Strip t that could be expanded to the West Bank and would be set at six months," Zahar was quoted by MENA as saying after the meeting.