Jeep Blown Up on Israel-gaza Border

An Israeli soldier was killed and another seriously injured when Palestinian militants blew up an Israeli army jeep on the Gaza border today, Arab media reported.

"I believe the jeep was destroyed, because it was consumed by flames," a witness told Reuters. The vehicle blew up at the Kissufim crossing in central Gaza. Two tanks and an ambulance went to the scene.

An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate details.

Israeli forces withdrew from northern Gaza on Monday after an incursion that killed more than 125 people - half of them civilians, medical officials said. There has been sporadic fighting since.

Israeli media have reported on the possible resumption of the peace talks that were suspended by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, because of the violence in Gaza.

Israel's Ha'aretz daily paper quoted Israeli officials as saying that "junior representatives" of the negotiating teams may meet as early as today, with a possible meeting next week of Abbas and the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

The suspended talks had begun after November's peace conference in Annapolis in the US. The American secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, visited the region this week and Abbas conditionally agreed to resume talks. The White House is pushing for a peace deal by the time George Bush leaves office in January.

Olmert has said Israeli attacks will stop if the Islamist group Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel. Abbas has said he will not return to talks until Israel reaches a ceasefire with Hamas, which ousted Abbas' Fatah forces from power in Gaza last June.

A Hamas rocket killed an Israeli civilian last week and two soldiers died fighting Gaza gunmen. About 290 rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel in the past week, the Israeli army said. The rocket fire has largely abated since Israeli troops withdrew from the coastal territory on Monday.

Rice finished a three-day visit to the region yesterday by sending an envoy to Egypt. Palestinian officials said an Egyptian mediator, Omar Suleiman, would present Israel and Hamas with a truce proposal including a mutual cessation of hostilities and Israel's assent for key border crossings to open.