Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected suggestions of a ceasefire with Hamas in Sunday's cabinet session. "The State of Israel has no interest in conducting negotiations with elements that do not recognize the Quartet's conditions," he said. "This is true of Hamas and it is true of Islamic Jihad."
"Whoever accepts the Quartet's conditions will be a basic partner in the negotiations, and whoever refuses to do so, we are sorry to say, cannot be a partner for dialogue," he explained. "This policy will not change," said Olmert.
The Quartet is made up of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia , which try to coordinate their policy with regard to the Middle East conflict. They have demanded that the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza ("Palestinians") recognize Israel, renounce terror and accept previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
Olmert said: "Our security forces are operating over the months in innumerable actions in Gaza, in order to bring to a minimum the Kassam rocket fire that is hurting the residents of the south and in order to hurt the ones responsible for the launches."
"There is no way to describe what is going on there except for a real war between the IDF and the 
"The war will continue as we make sure to avoid a humanitarian crisis that will hurt civilians who are not involved in terror at all."
terror elements," Olmert told the ministers. "The war will continue as we make sure to avoid a humanitarian crisis that will hurt civilians who are not involved in terror at all. The policy requires patience and fortitude," he said.
Hamas: ceasefire for limited time
Ahmed Yousef, an aide to Hamas's Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh, told the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency that Hamas would consider a truce with Israel if Israel stops its attacks in Gaza. "We do not oppose a truce to end the siege [of Gaza]," he said, "but it will not be given for free and it will be limited in time." He also demanded that Israel reopen the border crossings to and from Gaza, for "humanitarian" reasons.
According to London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat, a senior member of Hamas said Saturday that he does not rule out the possibility of offering Israel an unconditional hudna (an Arabic name for a type of temporary ceasefire meant for regrouping) but he denied that Hamas had already formally offered Israel such a deal.
"The argument over the hudna has been renewed seriously inside Hamas and between Hamas and the Palestinian factions," he explained. "There will be no conditions," he added: "cessation of the fire on our side and cessation of the fire on Israel's side."
Senior sources in the Israeli defense establishment said that the recent talk by Haniyeh and other Hamas chiefs shows that they are feeling the Israeli pressure in Gaza. Hamas is upset by Israel's military actions but is even more worried by the economic pressure: sanctions against importation of products to Gaza and the siege which prevents residents from going to and from Egypt.
The Islamic Jihad spokesman rejected the idea of a ceasefire Saturday, accusing Israel of continued killing and air strikes.