WASHINGTON, Jan 16: The United States and Israel signed an accord on Friday aimed at stopping, as the latter puts it, the “smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip _ a move Washington hoped would lead to a durable ceasefire to end the three-week invasion.

The agreement, designed to prevent Hamas from rearming, was considered a vital element in a broad international push to end the tragedy in Gaza.

“It provides a series of steps that the United States and Israel will take to stem the flow of weapons and explosives (into Gaza),” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said of the deal signed with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

“Together the steps that we and other members of the international community can take will contribute to a durable ceasefire,” Ms Rice said. She earlier said she could not predict whether a full ceasefire in Gaza was possible by Tuesday, when she ends her tenure and President George Bush leaves office.

“We are doing everything we can to bring this to an end,” Ms Rice told reporters.

Tzipi Livni, the Jewish state’s foreign minister, said the accord was a “vital component” in a series of actions to complement Egyptian efforts to “end the smuggling of weapons” to Gaza.

“For a cessation of hostilities to be durable, there must be an end to the smuggling of weapons into Gaza,” said Ms Livni, who flew to Washington on Thursday to sign the accord.

NO US PRESENCE ON GROUND: The deal involves information-sharing, technical assistance and the use of various US “assets” to prevent arms from getting to Hamas either from air, land or sea.

The document signed by Rice and Livni said the deal included the use of detection equipment and the deployment of vessels from Nato countries to prevent “maritime smuggling” and to train and equip forces in counter-smuggling tactics.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said no US personnel were expected to be stationed in Gaza or in Egypt under the deal.

“The idea here is to change the reality on the ground,” McCormack said of the agreement, which he said could serve as a model for agreements with France and Britain.

It is designed to ensure “Hamas is not able to be resupplied via sea, land or air”, he said.

Egypt has taken the lead in trying to cobble together a ceasefire arrangement between Israel and Hamas.

The United States also hopes to revive a 2005 border crossing deal which Condoleezza Rice helped to negotiate but which fell apart soon after.

The Palestinian death toll from the Israeli air-and-ground offensive launched on Dec 27 has risen to at least 1,105 and there were more than 5,000 wounded, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. A Palestinian rights group put the civilian death toll around 700.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is quite dire. I am very concerned about it,” Ms Rice told reporters. “That’s another reason to get this ceasefire in place.” —Reuters