Israel Shuts Gaza Crossings As Truce Doubts Grow

Israel closed its border crossings into Gaza today as doubts grew about a week-old ceasefire agreed with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Israeli military officials said the closure was a response to the firing of four rockets from Gaza into southern Israel yesterday. The rockets, which lightly injured two people, were fired by the militant group Islamic Jihad, which said it was responding to the killing of one of its commanders in the occupied West Bank earlier in the day.

"Any reopening [of the crossings] will be in accordance with security considerations," said Peter Lerner, an Israeli military liaison official.

The closure today prevented any delivery of fuel to Gaza's one power station. The industrial diesel for the plant is paid for by the European Union.

Under the ceasefire, Israel and the Palestinian militant groups were supposed to halt violence in the Gaza Strip and Israel was to ease its tough economic blockade of the territory. But in addition to yesterday's rockets, Palestinian reports suggested two farmers - one on Monday and another today - had been shot and injured by Israeli troops while working on land in Gaza close to the Israeli border fence. The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of the incidents.

Reports said Israel would reopen the crossings tomorrow in an attempt to maintain the ceasefire for now, although there is considerable skepticism on both sides about how long the agreement may continue.

Both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the ceasefire. Khalil al-Haya, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said the movement was still committed to the truce but said it would not confront other militant groups trying to launch attacks into Israel.

"Even if there is a violation by some factions, Hamas emphasizes its commitment to the calm and is working to implement the calm," al-Haya said. "But Hamas is not going to be a police securing the border of the occupation."

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, struck a last-minute deal late last night to avert a parliamentary vote that might have brought down his government and threatened the Gaza ceasefire. The compromise he struck with the labor party, which is part of his ruling coalition, means he could be replaced as PM as early as September.

The labor party, led by the defence minister, Ehud Barak, had threatened to vote in favour of a bill that would have called for the dissolution of the Israeli parliament. However, late-night talks produced a compromise in which Olmert promised that his Kadima party would hold an internal leadership primary by September 25. labor hopes that this internal vote will produce a new leader for Kadima, and therefore a new prime minister for the ruling coalition.