BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS (Agencies) -- Israel is looking for a truce with Hamas, a proposal delivered by Egypt to the Zionist regime, defense officials said, but on the other hand its troops on Friday killed a Hamas activist in Gaza.

Israeli calls for cease-fire talks with the Islamic Resistance Movement that rules the Gaza Strip grew Friday as an Israeli Cabinet minister said he supported such negotiations under certain conditions.
A Hamas official implied the offer was part of the Islamic group’s efforts to reach out not only to Israel, but also to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has controlled only the West Bank since June when Hamas ousted his Fatah party’s security forces from Gaza.
Since the Hamas takeover, Abbas has rejected offers by the group to talk, insisting Hamas must first step down in Gaza. Israel has also refused to do business with the group, and has virtually closed all crossings with the impoverished area where 1.5 million Palestinians live, allowing in only food and humanitarian aid.
Earlier this month, Israel and Abbas’ administration began the first official Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in almost seven years. But the question of what to do with the Gaza Strip plagues the negotiations on a final peace agreement, which the sides hope to complete by 2009.
Israeli defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Thursday the Hamas offer was limited to stopping the rocket fire in exchange for a halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza.
They said Hamas gave assurances it could impose the truce on the Islamic groups that are firing the rockets..