Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak invited Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to Cairo following the Israeli ministers' warnings on Monday that if rocket attacks from Gaza continue, Israel will have no choice but to carry out a large-scale counterterrorism operation in Gaza. Livni and Mubarak are to meet on Thursday.
Livni's spokespeople said the minister would present Israel's position and tell Mubarak that rocket and mortar shell attacks on residents of Israel's south are unacceptable.
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has approved the trip. Olmert is currently in Turkey, where he is meeting with senior politicians in an attempt to promote negotiations between Israel and Syria.
Egypt has tried to take an active role in mediating talks between Israel and Hamas and between Hamas and Fatah, but so far the talks have yet to show results. Analysts recently warned that Egypt is losing its influence over Hamas and is being replaced by Iran, which increasingly has a say in Hamas' activities in Gaza and elsewhere.
Egyptian officials have pushed for a second temporary ceasefire such as the just-ended six-month ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which started in mid-June. While Gaza terrorists broke the ceasefire with a rocket attack just hours after it went into effect, the number of rocket attacks was lower than usual for most of the ceasefire.
In November terrorists began firing rockets more frequently, and more than 300 rockets were fired between early November and mid December, when the ceasefire was officially called off. While the ceasefire continued, Israel did not conduct counterterrorism operations in Gaza or targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders, and limited the IDF to pinpoint operations against terrorists posing an immediate threat.
While agreeing to meet with Mubarak, Livni is also preparing for the possibility of an attack on Gaza, and has worked with spokespeople and ministry officials on Israel's response to foreign media in case of a major Gaza operation.