Outline of a possible Gaza truce emerges

updated 8:57 p.m. ET Jan. 5, 2009

JERUSALEM - The contours of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas are emerging, with diplomacy focusing on international guarantees, including foreign border monitors to oversee any agreement.

Various truce ideas have been floated in recent days in a swirl of diplomacy in the Middle East and at the United Nations, most involving international monitors.

Israel has two key objectives — to prevent weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza, and to create enough deterrence to persuade Hamas to halt rocket attacks for good.

"Once these objectives are achieved and are followed by very strict and credible international guarantees, we will leave Gaza, having created this new situation," said Dan Gillerman, a senior Israeli diplomat.

Hamas says it will only halt rocket fire in exchange for lifting the stifling blockade of Gaza, enforced by Israel and Egypt since the Hamas takeover in 2007.

Opening the borders without conditions would mean de facto recognition of the rule of Hamas, something Israel, Egypt and much of the international community are loathe to do. The Islamic militants are branded as a terrorist movement by many, and have refused to recognize Israel or commit to previous peace agreements.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki, who represents the West Bank Palestinian Authority that is a rival to Hamas, suggested Monday that an international force would "observe and monitor" the Arab crossings and provide protection to Palestinians.

Israel: destroy tunnels
Israel's concept is tougher, authorizing international forces to destroy tunnels that Hamas has used to smuggle in large amounts of rockets and explosives since seizing control of Gaza from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007.

Some 300 tunnels were running under the Gaza-Egypt border before the offensive began, the Israeli military says, and Israeli warplanes have bombed them in a series of strikes in the past 10 days, including dozens on Monday.

Video   Fighting fire—and rockets—in the war zone Jan. 5: A Boston-born Israeli firefighter learns to live on high alert. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports. Nightly News

During a six-month truce that expired Dec. 19, Israel only allowed in a trickle of goods, increasing Hamas' frustration and willingness to call off the deal. Hamas fired repeated rocket barrages into southern Israel after the cease-fire lapsed, drawing the latest Israeli invasion.

Over the weekend, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to 17 foreign leaders to discuss components of a cease-fire, including preventing smuggling and opening Gaza crossings, said spokesman Sean McCormack.

A Rice-brokered deal in 2005 between Abbas and Israel would likely form the basis for any new arrangement. Under that agreement, EU monitors were deployed at the Rafah terminal on the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent smuggling of weapons and militants, while Israel observed Palestinian-supervised border traffic from a distance, via closed-circuit TV.

The European Union is proposing that monitors return to the Rafah terminal, and says the mission could also be expanded to Israel's cargo and passenger crossings with Gaza, according to a European diplomat. He spoke on condition of anonymity because French President Nicolas Sarkozy was discussing truce ideas with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Monday.

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