Hamas leader appeals for truce with Israel after two days of air attacks

GAZA CITY, Gaza City -- On Islam's most important holiday, the leader of Gaza's Hamas government appealed Wednesday for a cease-fire with Israel and said his people -- battered by Israeli military strikes and international sanctions -- are greeting this year's feast with "tears in our eyes."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman said there could be no deals with Hamas until it renounces violence and recognizes Israel, though one Cabinet minister said Israel might consider outside mediation with the Islamic militants.

Israel and Hamas have never had direct contacts because of the group's violently anti-Israel ideology. But they have agreed to short truces negotiated by third parties.

The appeal from Ismail Haniyeh, who heads the Hamas government in Gaza, came in a phone call to an Israeli TV reporter, said Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu. It followed a two-day air assault by Israeli forces that killed 12 Gaza militants, two from Hamas and 10 from Islamic Jihad.

Israel "should stop its attacks and siege," Nunu said. "Then a truce would be possible, and not unlikely."

Hamas officials said they were working with other militant groups to try to stop the rocket fire into Israel and also sent overtures to Israel through unidentified third parties.

Olmert's office would not confirm that such messages had arrived. His spokesman, Mark Regev, said there would be no negotiations until Hamas recognizes Israel, renounces violence and accepts existing peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. The Islamic militant group has never agreed to those conditions.

On Tuesday, Olmert said the war against militants would not end and its leaders were in Israeli cross-hairs. "We will get all those who are responsible for firing rockets," he said.

Israel's president, Nobel Peace laureate Shimon Peres, released an unusually harsh statement opposing talks with Hamas. He called the Hamas overture "a pathetic attempt to deflect world attention away from the crimes of Hamas and Islamic Jihad."

But Cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz, a former army chief and defense minister, took a more conciliatory view.

In an interview on Israel Army Radio, he said Israel might consider indirect contacts with Hamas to end the fighting.

As long as rocket attacks persist, Israel will not "for even one hour" let up its attacks on Gaza militants, Mofaz said. But "mediation is something we can think about," he added.

At least one other Cabinet minister supports contacts with Hamas, but a clear majority, including Olmert, is opposed.