Israel indicates rapid withdrawal

By Heba Saleh in Cairo and Tobias Buck and Andrew England in Jerusalem

Published: January 18 2009 18:02 | Last updated: January 19 2009 11:08

Israel on Monday opened three border crossings to allow in aid to the battered Gaza Strip and indicated that it would withdraw all of its troops ahead of Tuesday’s US presidential inauguration. Egypt was also due to open the Rafah crossing in the south of Gaza.

Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, said on Monday that as long as Gaza remains quiet Israel’s pullback will be “almost immediate”.

There were no reports of fighting overnight on Monday and Israeli reservists called up to support regular units were being sent home, according to reports.

On Sunday world leaders rushed to shore up the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, after both Israel and the Islamist Hamas group said they would end hostilities after three weeks of bloody fighting.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey met Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian president, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to push for a durable end to the war. They called for an opening of the strip’s border crossings, offered to help in the rebuilding of Gaza, and promised to aid Egyptian efforts to put an end to weapons smuggling into the strip – an Israeli demand.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said European leaders would tell Israel “that we are at its side to assure its right to security but [it] must indicate clearly that if the rocket firing stops, the Israeli army will leave Gaza”.

Hamas on Sunday followed Israel in declaring a ceasefire, offering the best chance yet to end a conflict that has claimed the lives of at least 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. However, the Islamist group, along with other militant Palestinian factions in Gaza, said Israeli troops had to leave the territory within a week.

Gaza-based groups had fired at least 20 rockets on nearby Israeli towns in the hours leading up to the Hamas announcement, but the ceasefire appeared to hold in the afternoon and evening.

The move came in response to Israel’s declaration of a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday night. Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, said the country’s offensive had achieved all its goals. He added that Israeli troops would remain in the Gaza Strip for the time being, but would withdraw if Hamas held fire as well.

A spokesman for Mr Olmert declined to comment on Hamas’s one-week ultimatum, saying the government was not in negotiations with the group. However, he added that Israel had “no intention” of staying in the Gaza Strip for long, and that a withdrawal could take place quickly.

The Sharm el-Sheikh conference also provided an opportunity to try to shore up the credibility of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. The PA, which was ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007, has been largely sidelined during the conflict, and Mr Abbas has faced criticism from Palestinians for not responding decisively to the crisis. He took part in the gathering and addressed the press alongside the European leaders.

The presence of international leaders offered support for Mr Mubarak, who has faced intense pressure from Arab countries such as Syria and Qatar for Egypt’s close ties with Israel and his refusal to open the country’s border with Gaza to help the beleaguered population.