Israel Scales Back Gaza Offensive

Hamas rocket attacks slow, but Israelis say fighting isn't over

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 10, 2008 8:16 AM CDT

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Israel Scales Back Gaza Offensive — Masked Palestinian militants from Hamas burn a mock coffin bearing a representation of an Israeli flag during a rally by the group in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, Friday, March 7, 2008. Hamas militants backtracked Friday on an earlier claim of responsibility for an attack on a religious school in Jerusalem... (Associated Press)

Israel is reining in its Gaza offensive after seeing a big reduction in cross-border rocket fire over the weekend, the BBC reports. But Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said there was no truce in place. “The fighting is ongoing and will at times increase or decrease,” he said, saying that a lapse in rocket fire would lead to “quiet day(s).”

Only three rockets have been fired since last Friday, Haaretz reports. Egypt has stepped up efforts to mediate an official ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as neither acknowledges the other diplomatically. Israel’s offensive has killed at least 120 so far, many of them civilians. “If they don't fire Qassams at us, we won't attack in Gaza,” Ehud Olmert promised last week. (More Hamas stories.)

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