U.S. skeptical of news about truce in Gaza

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration reacted skeptically on Tuesday to news that Egypt had brokered a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militants who are shunned by Washington.

"We'll see first of all whether there is actually an agreement," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

"Even if this is a true report, I think unfortunately it hardly takes Hamas out of the terrorism business," he said, referring to the Islamist Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip.

Egypt and Hamas said earlier the ceasefire would begin on Thursday. It would aim to end rocket and mortar bomb attacks on Israel from the coastal enclave, and Israeli raids and air strikes in the territory.

But U.S. officials, who reject contact with Hamas because they view it as a terrorist organization, were clearly dubious, and dismissive of suggestions they were being eclipsed as peace brokers.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said he had no comment on reports of an Israel-Hamas truce, saying there had not been anything official. "We really want to see details of any kind of agreement and what the views are of people in the region before we comment on it," he said.

At the State Department, Casey said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had spoken previously "about the importance of establishing calm, and the appreciation we have for Egypt's efforts to facilitate peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians in a general way."

Hamas won a 2006 election and briefly formed a unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It seized control of Gaza from Abbas' secular Fatah faction in fighting last June.

Casey brushed aside suggestions that Washington was losing its importance as a player in peace efforts in the Middle East. "I think the U.S. role in this has been important, I think it is a continuing one," he said.

News of the Gaza truce came just after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned to Washington after her sixth visit to the region this year to try to push Israel and Abbas' government closer to a peace deal.

But those talks are moving at a slow pace. Meanwhile, Israel is also holding indirect talks, mediated by Turkey, with Syria. Washington avoids high-level contacts with Damascus, saying it suspects Syria in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005.

(Editing by David Storey and Doina Chiacu)