ISRAEL offered to suspend its offensive in the Gaza Strip today during a brief visit by Egypt?s premier if militants refrain from firing rockets, an official said.
? Egyptian PM visits Gaza Strip
? Three days of fighting between Israel and Palestine
An official in prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu?s office said the Israeli leader was responding to an Egyptian request.
Prime minister Hesham Kandil crossed into Gaza before midday through the only border post between Egypt and Gaza.
Gaza militants stepped up their barrages of rocket fire into Israel as Mr Kandil crossed into Gaza through the only border post with Egypt, heavily guarded by Egyptian security personnel wearing flak jackets and carrying assault rifles.
He was greeted by Gaza?s Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, who ventured out in public for the first time since Israel launched the offensive on Wednesday by assassinating the militant group?s military commander.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the militants were making a clear statement. ?There?s no intention whatsoever to stop firing into Israel,? he said.
Israel told the Egyptians the military ?would hold its fire on the condition that during that period, there won?t be hostile fire from Gaza into Israel?, the Israeli official said.
?Prime minister Netanyahu is committed to the peace treaty with Egypt, which is in the strategic interest of both countries,? he added.
Shortly after Mr Kandil arrived, Gaza militants fired off repeated rocket salvos, but there were no immediate reports of Israeli retaliation.
It was not clear whether Israel hoped to use the possible suspension of hostilities to seek a broader truce or was agreeing to the halt in fighting only as a gesture to Egypt.
Three days of fierce fighting between Israel and Gaza militants has widened the instability gripping the region, straining already frayed Israel-Egypt relations. The Cairo government recalled its ambassador in protest.
Egypt said Mr Kandil?s three-hour visit on Friday was meant as a show of solidarity with the Palestinian territory?s militant Hamas rulers.
Egyptian intelligence officials involved in negotiations to end previous rounds of fighting are accompanying Mr Kandil on his visit, an Egyptian diplomat said, suggesting it was more than a display of support.
The diplomat said Gaza militants have told Egyptian intelligence officials they would be willing to hold their fire if Israel would commit to mediation to stop its military operation and targeted killings.
Word of the possible pause in the fighting came after a night of fierce exchanges and signals that Israel might be preparing to invade Gaza.
Overnight, the military said it targeted about 150 of the sites Gaza gunmen use to fire rockets at Israel, as well as ammunition warehouses, bringing to 450 the number of sites struck since the operation began on Wednesday.
Israeli troops, tanks and armoured personnel carriers massed near the Palestinian territory, signalling a ground invasion might be imminent.
Militants unleashed dozens of rocket barrages overnight.
Fighting between the two sides escalated sharply on Thursday with a first-ever rocket attack from Gaza on the Tel Aviv area, menacing Israel?s most densely populated area. No casualties were reported there, but three people died in the country?s rocket-scarred south when a projectile slammed into an apartment building.
The death toll in Gaza was 19, including five children, according to Palestinian health officials.
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