The United States and Israel signed an accord today aimed at stopping the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip, a step Washington hopes will lead to a durable ceasefire to end Israel's three-week offensive.
"It provides a series of steps that the United States and Israel will take to stem the flow of weapons and explosives (into Gaza)," US secretary of State Condolezza Rice said of the agreement, which she signed with Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni.
"Together the steps that we and other members of the international community can take will contribute to a durable ceasefire," the outgoing secretary added.
MS Rice earlier said she could not predict whether a full ceasefire in Gaza was possible by Tuesday, when she ends her tenure and US president George W Bush leaves office.
"We are doing everything we can to bring this to an end," Ms Rice told reporters.
Ms Livni said the accord was one of a series of actions designed to halt the arms smuggling into Gaza. "For a cessation of hostilities to be durable, there must be an end to the smuggling of weapons into Gaza," she said.
The deal involves information-sharing, technical assistance and the use of various US "assets" to prevent arms from getting to Hamas either from air, land or sea.
A US official who asked not to be named said it could include the use of detection equipment, aerial surveillance and possibly the deployment of vessels from Nato countries to prevent maritime smuggling.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said no US personnel were expected to be stationed in Gaza or in Egypt under the deal.
"The idea here is to change the reality on the ground," McCormack said of the agreement, which he said could serve as a model for agreements with the French and British.
The agreement was designed to ensure "Hamas is not able to be resupplied via sea, land or air," he said.
The Palestinian death toll from the Israeli air-and-ground offensive launched on December 27th has risen to at least 1,105 and there were more than 5,000 wounded, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. A Palestinian rights group put the civilian death toll at around 700.
"The humanitarian situation in Gaza is quite dire. I am very concerned about it," Ms Rice told reporters. "That's another reason to get this ceasefire in place."
Reuters