Hamas talk

A Hamas team met Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman yesterday in a bid to clinch a lasting truce in war-battered Gaza, after an Israeli negotiator held similar talks in Cairo.

Senior Israeli minister Shaul Mofaz yesterday warned Hamas's leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, that he would not be able to move around freely if an Israeli soldier remained captive in the territory.

"As long as Gilad Shalit does not see daylight, Haniya will not see daylight either," said Mofaz, who is transport minister and a member of Israel's powerful security cabinet.

"As long as Gilad Shalit is not free, Haniya will not be able to move freely in the streets of Gaza," Mofaz said on public radio, referring to a conscript seized by Gaza militants in a deadly cross-border raid in June 2006.

"I tell Hamas leaders -- do not again make a mistake when it comes to us, do not try and harden your position before negotiations on a (prisoner) exchange" involving Shalit, he said.

Egypt's state MENA news agency said Suleiman and the Hamas officials discussed "Egyptian efforts to consolidate the ceasefire, reach a (permanent) truce, reopen Gaza crossings and resume Palestinian national dialogue."

Hamas and Egyptian officials were not immediately available to comment on the behind closed doors talks, attended by members of the group's powerful Syria-based politburo and a delegation from the Gaza Strip.

But a Hamas spokesman in Damascus reiterated to AFP that the Islamist group was willing to observe a "one-year truce" with Israel "on condition" that the blockade of Gaza is lifted.