Thursday's attempted suicide bombing attack on the Erez Crossing highlights the difficulty in reaching a truce with Hamas, which has demanded that the crossings to Gaza be opened before a halt in the violence takes place. A pro-Hamas website blamed Israel for what it said is a breakdown in negotiations being mediated by Egypt.

Egypt earlier this week claimed that Israel already has agreed to a halt in counterterrorist operations coincident with a cessation of Arab terrorist attacks on Israel. Thursday's attempted suicide attack involved a truck loaded with four tons of explosives, which would have caused heavy casualties if alert soldiers had not fired on the vehicle before it reached the crossing.

Terrorists also attacked soldiers at the Sufa Crossing on Thursday and fired mortar shells at the Nahal Oz fuel depot crossing.