Israel is "considering" a United Nations truce proposal while Hamas held fire during the night and early Wednesday morning. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's announcement to allow more aid into Gaza through a new "humanitarian corridor" may give the IDF more time to continue its Operation Cast Lead campaign against the Hamas terrorist infrastructure.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Prof. Gabriela Shalev said Israel is taking "very seriously" an Egyptian proposal for an immediate ceasefire but refused to indicate Israel's intentions. "I am sure that it will be considered and you will find out whether it was accepted," she told reporters after a United Nations Security Council meeting Tuesday night.
She said that the Security Council will meet again on Wednesday and that she does not expect it to approve an anti-Israel resolution because the world is beginning to understand the true situation in Gaza.
At the U.N., the Arab world castigated the Security Council for not passing a resolution that would have bound Israel to stop its war against terror.
Olmert made Israel's policy clear, saying that the immediate result of the counterterrorist campaign is "to end smuggling of ammunition via the Philadelphi corridor into Gaza, in order to prevent murderous organizations from being able to fire."
His spokesman Mark Regev added, "Preventing a Hamas arms build-up is the necessary foundation of any new 'calm' arrangement. Under no circumstances will we agree to a new 'calm' that will allow them to increase their range to 60 kilometers (40 miles) so we have rockets landing on the outskirts of Tel Aviv."
Many Western leaders supported Israel's demands, "I think it [a truce] is very difficult unless there is a significant advance for the Israelis on security, which allows a significant advance in opening up Gaza to the outside world," said Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also stated that a ceasefire must not allow a return to the conditions that allowed Hamas to continue to attack Israel with rockets and mortars. "A ceasefire that returns to those circumstances is unacceptable and will not last," said Rice.
Olmert's move to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza softens the reasoning of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for an immediate truce, which he said would allow more transfers of goods and merchandise into Gaza.