Israel dismisses Hamas truce proposals

Israel has dismissed a proposal by Hamas to call a conditional six-month truce in the Gaza Strip.

Officials described the Hamas plans as "a ruse aimed at allowing the Palestinian Islamist group to recover from recent fighting".

Israeli government spokesman David Baker said: "Hamas is biding time in order to rearm and regroup.

"There would be no need for Israel's defensive actions if Hamas would cease and desist from committing terrorist attacks on Israelis.

"Israel will continue to act to protect its citizens."

Hamas called for "a mutual cessation of hostilities" in Gaza along with an end to a crippling Israeli-led blockade on the territory after talks with Egyptian mediators,

During the proposed truce, Egypt would try to extend it to the occupied West Bank, another territory where Palestinians are fighting for statehood.

Hamas, which controls Gaza while Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas holds sway in the West Bank, had previously demanded that any ceasefire be implemented in both areas simultaneously.

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