JERUSALEM - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday to discuss efforts to work out a cease-fire between the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip and Israel, officials said.
The talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheik will also focus on Egyptian efforts to prevent arms smuggling into the Palestinian territory, Israeli government officials said Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity since the meeting had not yet been officially announced.
The talks do not signify that a deal is imminent but that the Egyptian mediation efforts are progressing, they said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will also meet Mubarak today at the resort, her office said. Spokesman Arye Mekel said the meeting would deal with all subjects relevant to Egyptian-Israeli relations, but would not confirm the cease-fire was on the agenda.
Egypt has been trying for weeks to work out a truce. But rocket attacks on southern Israel from Gaza have persisted, along with Israeli land raids and airstrikes against squads launching the rockets.
Senior Israeli officials have warned in recent days of a growing danger from Hamas.
On Saturday, Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said on Israel Radio that Israel must destroy Hamas' arsenal, claiming it was almost on par with that of a sovereign state. In a separate interview, the outgoing air force chief, Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedi, said that in afuture war, Israel would come under heavy rocket attack, including from Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is coming under growing domestic pressure to order a military offensive against Hamas, after two deadly missile strikes and a rocket hit a crowded mall within a week.
The recent warnings further contributed to the Israeli push for an offensive.
In Gaza, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, said Israel is exaggerating Hamas' capacity to set the stage for a large-scale operation. However, Abu Obeida also said Hamas is pushing hard to obtain more weapons.
Last week, the Israeli army's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, dropped his opposition to a ground offensive in Gaza, security officials said.
Since Hamas seized control of Gaza by force almost a year ago, Israel has routinely targeted Gaza militants in missile strikes or by sending ground forces into border areas for limited operations. It has also dramatically reduced supplies of fuel and commercial goods into the territory to pressure militants to halt their fire. So far, both strategies have failed to halt rocket fire from Gaza.
On Wednesday, during a visit to Israel by President Bush tomark Israel's 60th anniversary, an Iranian-made Grad rocket from Gaza hit a crowded shopping mall in the coastal city of Ashkelon, nine miles from Gaza. Fourteen people were wounded, four of them seriously.
Israel's military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, warned this week that Hamas is expanding the range of its missiles.
Hamas is obtaining longerrange missiles through smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border, and Israel believes Iran is the main supplier. Israel has reportedly conditioned any cease-fire on an Egyptian agreement to stop the arms smuggling.
Hamas also produces shortrange Qassam rockets in Gaza.
Dichter, the public security minister, said that while 200,000 Israelis are currently threatened by Hamas missiles, that number could grow to half a million soon.
Strategic targets, such as the turbines of Ashkelon's power plant and the Ashdod port, are under threat, he said. "We mustn't let Hamas grab Israel by the turbines," he said, portraying Gaza's rulers as a "malignant Iranian tumor."
Dichter said Israel's strategic objective is to destroy the Hamas threat and that Egyptian efforts to negotiate a period of calm on the Gaza-Israel border would at best offer a brief tactical advantage to Israel.
He said a military campaign against Hamas could go on for years. Failure to defeat Hamas could destabilize the West Bank, he said. The territory is ruled by moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Front Section, Pages 20 on 05/18/2008