Israel Considers Offering Hamas a Cease-Fire

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Israel Considers Offering Hamas a Cease-Fire
Israel is considering suspending its offensive on Hamas-ruled Gaza for 48 hours to give Hamas militants an opening to halt their rocket fire, but the threat of a ground offensive remains if the truce does not hold, Israeli officials said Tuesday.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is to raise the proposal during a meeting Tuesday night with the prime minister, said two senior officials in Barak's office who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to make the information public.

Meanwhile, police say Gaza militants fired two rockets Tuesday evening at the Israeli city of Beersheba, about 28 miles from Gaza — reaching deeper into Israel than ever before.

Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld says the long-range rocket landed in an open area outside the city. The mayor of Beersheba has told Israel television that the other rocket hit an empty kindergarten.

A Hamas spokesman said any halt to militant rocket and mortar fire would require an end to Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip. "If they halt the aggression and the blockade, then Hamas will study these suggestions," said Mushir Masri.