July 10, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 9,1424

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GAZA CITY, July 9: The leader of the radical Palestinian group Hamas on Wednesday told an Egyptian military delegation which helped persuade it to call a halt to anti-Israeli attacks that it remained committed to the truce.

“We assured them we are committed to the initiative which we announced (the truce),” Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin told reporters after the lunchtime meeting in Gaza City.

“We put the Egyptian delegation in the picture about Israeli violations and aggression and we told them we will have patience and tolerance but told them that our patience is limited.”

The delegation, led by Gen Mustafa al-Buheeri, was also expected to hold talks with other militant factions, including Islamic Jihad and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, during a three-day visit, said a Palestinian security official.

The truce, which was announced by the four groups on June 29, has come under increasing strain in recent days.

A local branch of Islamic Jihad said on Tuesday that it was behind a fatal bombing the previous night at a house in northern Israel, but the movement’s leadership later reaffirmed its commitment to the truce.

The groups laid down a raft of conditions when they announced the truce, including the release of all Palestinian prisoners.

But the Israeli government is prepared to free only 350 prisoners, representing just five percent of the total in detention, and effectively ruled out the release of any members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Sheikh Yassin said that there was no prospect of the group compromising on its demands for the release of all Palestinian prisoners.

“We told our Egyptian brothers that it is a red line that we cannot cross,” he added.

Hamas’ political leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi, the target of a failed Israeli assassination bid last month in a helicopter strike in Gaza City, also attended the meeting.—AFP