Israel and US openly at odds over Gaza ceasefire terms, Israeli ministers approve 4-hour truce extension.

Israel and US openly at odds over Gaza ceasefire terms, Israeli ministers approve 4-hour truce extension. 

Timesof Israel LiveBlog here.

But Israeli government sources told Army Radio the ceasefire terms proposed by Kerry were “completely unreasonable.” An unnamed senior Israeli government official flatly disputed Kerry’s assertion that his offer was “built on the Egyptian initiative” – which Israel accepted last week and Hamas rejected. In fact, the official was quoted saying, the Kerry offer is not built on the Egyptian proposal and tilts heavily toward Hamas.

The Army Radio report highlighted that the US on Monday signed an $11 billion arms deal with Qatar, and noted that Qatar is championing Hamas’s demands in the ceasefire negotiations, and is also alleged by Israel to be financing Hamas’s rocket production, tunnel digging infrastructure, and other elements of its military infrastructure. The radio report also claimed that Ban Ki-moon “is flying around the region on a Qatari plane.”

Indications from the lengthy Israeli cabinet meeting that rejected Kerry’s offer Friday are that the ministers were incensed that the terms of the deal would not have enabled Israel to continue to locate and demolish a network of dozens of tunnels that Hamas has dug, up to a mile or more long, from under Gaza residential areas all the way beneath the Israeli border.

The formal text of the ceasefire proposal offered by Kerry and rejected by Israel had not been released as of Friday evening. Earlier, though, The Times of Israel reported on what Arab sources said were its key elements.

The Kerry proposal, they said, provides for an immediate halt to hostilities to be followed 48 hours later by the start of five to-seven days of contacts between Israel, Palestinian and Egyptian delegations in Cairo, with the Palestinian delegation including Hamas officials. The talks in Egypt would include discussion of Hamas’s call for the lifting of the so-called siege of the Gaza Strip, and other demands.

In his comments on Friday in Cairo, Kerry said that Egypt had indeed offered to bring the “Palestinian factions,” and other interested parties, and Israel, to Cairo for such talks. “We still have some terminology” to work through, Kerry said. “But we are confident that we have a fundamental framework” that can work.

The Arab sources said the Kerry terms would provide for all military activity by the sides to halt immediately. On the Palestinian side, this provision was interpreted as meaning that Israel’s activities to find and destroy Hamas’s cross-border tunnels would also immediately be halted. But Israel has reportedly pushed for terms that would enable it to continue tackling the Hamas tunnels after a halt to hostilities.

The Arab sources said the discussions in Cairo would cover Hamas demands relating to: opening border crossings between Gaza and Israel; opening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt; the release of recently rearrested prisoners from the Shalit deal; the release of some 30 convicted terrorists, including Israeli Arabs, who were set to go free under the collapsed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in late March; widening Palestinian fishing rights off the Gaza coast, and the establishment of a Gaza seaport.