Hamas officials in Egypt for Israel truce talks

By Yusri Mohamed

RAFAH, Egypt (Reuters) - Leaders from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas arrived in Egypt on Monday to hear Israel's response to a six-month truce offer between Palestinians in Gaza and the Jewish state.

An Egyptian security official said Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, headed the 13-member delegation which he said would hold talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Tuesday. Another delegation of Hamas leaders who are based in Syria will also join the talks.

Egypt has been trying to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas to avoid an escalation that could derail U.S.-backed peace negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas has offered a six-month halt to hostilities in the Gaza Strip if Israel were to lift an embargo on the territory and reopen border crossings, an offer Suleiman presented to Israeli officials last week.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak repeated on Monday Israel's demand that any deal should include progress towards the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured in Gaza in 2006. Hamas has said a truce agreement and Shalit's release should remain separate issues.

Moussa Abu Marzouq, Hamas's deputy leader in exile, said he would arrive in Cairo later on Monday.

"We have not received an official response. We do not know the details of what Suleiman is carrying, so we cannot be optimistic or pessimistic about the prospects of a truce," he added, speaking by telephone from Syria.

Olmert told his cabinet on Sunday Israel was approaching a decision on possible broader military action in the Gaza Strip to curb rocket attacks.

But after talks with Suleiman in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Barak left open the possibility of a tacit deal to end the rocket attacks on Israeli territory near Gaza.

He said: "Gilad Shalit is at the centre of our screen, and we expect that if any kind of process toward reducing the level of violence will take place it will include a way to move toward his release. We are determined to ... resume security and tranquility around the Gaza Strip this way or another."

Marzouq renewed Hamas's calls on Egypt to open the border crossing with the Gaza Strip unilaterally if Israel rejected the truce offer.

Asked if the Egyptians can open the border without an agreement with Israel, he said: "They can, without a doubt. Egypt is a big country. A responsible country."

(Writing and additional reporting by Alaa Shahine in Cairo and Jonathan Wright in Sharm el-Sheikh; Editing by Catherine Evans)