Hamas says ready for fresh Gaza truce bid

GAZA CITY: Gaza's Hamas rulers said they were ready for a fresh bid to rein in cross-border fighting with Israel, after medics said three Palestinians were killed in air raids on Saturday.

Hamas and "the Palestinian resistance factions will respect the truce as long as the (forces) of the occupation do the same, and that's what we told our Egyptian brothers who demanded that we cease fire," a Hamas leader, Ayman Taha, told AFP.

"The Egyptians have demanded that the (forces) of the occupation stop their aggression and have informed us that they are prepared to do so," he added.

"We told them that we shall respond to calm with calm; if the occupier stops (its attacks), there will be no further retaliation by the resistance factions."

An official close to the Islamist movement said a new Egyptian-brokered truce would take effect from midnight (2100 GMT).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment but local media said neither side wanted an escalation, with Russian President Vladimir Putin due to start a rare visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Monday.

At a Saturday night meeting of the Revolutionary Council of his Fatah party Ramallah, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned "Israeli aggression" against Gaza and called for "a permanent return to calm". (AFP)