MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
From NPR News, this is All Things Considered. I'm Michele Norris.
MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
And I'm Melissa Block. In Gaza today, the guns fell silent for about three hours. Both the Israeli army and Hamas briefly paused their fighting to allow humanitarian aid into the territory. And late today, it appeared some progress has been made in persuading Israel and Hamas to sign on to a cease-fire agreement, an agreement pushed by Egypt and France. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today the U.S. supports that proposal.
NORRIS: For more, NPR's Mike Shuster joins us now on the line from Jerusalem. Mike, first tell us more about that three-hour lull.
MIKE SHUSTER: So for the following three hours, about 80 trucks crossed the border from Israel into Gaza, bringing food, fuel and medical supplies. And I think just as important, it gave an opportunity to Palestinians to get out of their houses and try to buy what they need. There were long lines at grocery stores. Merchants were selling staples from the back of their trucks. This certainly wasn't enough time for the entire population to get what it needed, so there is going to be a repetition of this. At first, the word was that there would be a lull at the same time every day, from now on. But now, some Israeli officials are saying it will be every other day, so this part isn't clear.
NORRIS: Now, three hours is not a lot of time. What happened once that pause in the war ended?
SHUSTER: Well, pretty soon after 4 o'clock, the war started again. There are reports now of significant bombardments in south Gaza. Tonight, Israel has been dropping leaflets in Rafah at the border with Egypt, telling residents to leave their homes by 8 o'clock in the morning tomorrow. And apparently, hundreds of families have left their homes already. It's an indication that Israel is going to target those areas pretty heavily tomorrow morning. And of course, there have been more Hamas rockets into Israel.
NORRIS: So Israel's possibly preparing to target these areas, but what about this French-Egyptian cease-fire initiative? It sounds like Israel has at least agreed to the principles.
SHUSTER: Israel, it seems, doesn't want to commit to any deal that would leave Hamas in the position to re-arm and begin the rocketing of Israel again. So the Egyptian-French proposal is trying to address how to prevent the smuggling of additional arms into Gaza through those tunnels at the border with Egypt. Part of the solution, according to this plan, would be the stationing of a small international force along the Egyptian-Gaza border. I have to say Hamas hasn't signed on to this, not by any means so far, so it's definitely not a done deal yet.
NORRIS: What would it take to get Hamas to sign on?
SHUSTER: It's not clear. Hamas officials are speaking mainly from Beirut, and they say different things at different times. And it is not at all clear what they like about this proposal and what more they demand.
NORRIS: We hear there was a very long meeting of the Israeli government security cabinet. What came out of that?
SHUSTER: There were a lot of indications that the security cabinet of the Israeli government was going to authorize Phase 3. That they haven't may mean that they are wanting to see what happens on the diplomatic side.
NORRIS: Thank you, Mike.
SHUSTER: You're welcome.
NORRIS: That was NPR's Mike Shuster speaking to us from Jerusalem.