Palestinians agree ceasefire plan

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The Palestinian government says it has agreed on the terms of a ceasefire proposal it wants to put to Israel to end more than three weeks of violence.

It said all factions in the Hamas-led Cabinet supported the truce - which would have to cover all Palestinian territories, not just the Gaza Strip.

The plan calls for militants in Gaza and the Israeli military to end the cross-border attacks simultaneously.

Israel has previously rejected plans for a West Bank truce.

The Israeli military frequently carries out raids against suspected militants there.

Extensive Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza has killed two Israelis in the last month and retaliatory Israeli military operations have killed about 50 Palestinians, many of them Hamas fighters.

Israeli promise

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been urging Palestinian factions to agree a Gaza-based truce with Israel first, to end the current round of violence.

The ceasefire proposals begin with a cessation of missile firing by all Palestinian factions.

After that it calls on Israel to stop air attacks, military raids and arrest operations, and to release detained Palestinian Authority officials, among other measures.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Ramallah says Hamas broke a similar ceasefire earlier this year, arguing that Palestinians were still being killed by Israelis in the West Bank.

Other militant groups did not observe the truce at all, citing similar reasons.

Mr Abbas is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert later this week but if he comes away with less than an Israeli promise of a truce across all Palestinian territories, the rocket fire from Gaza is likely to carry on, BBC correspondent says.

PHOTO CAPTION

Funeral of Hamas militant in Gaza – file photo  

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