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Israel Will Negotiate with Hamas Only When There Is Complete Calm
(Israel Hayom) Ariel Kahana - Israel will agree to engage in indirect negotiations with Hamas about easing the humanitarian situation in Gaza only when attacks on areas adjacent to Gaza stop completely, a senior official traveling with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Lithuania said this weekend. "We are working to secure a cease-fire...[but] there is no deal yet." The official explained that all Israeli gestures would be entirely contingent on a complete cease-fire along the border, similar to the calm following the 2014 war. "We cannot move on to any other stage without securing calm first. The previous cease-fire held for three and a half years. These past few weeks, we're seeing movement toward restoring calm near Gaza, with a drop in the number of arson balloons and a dwindling number of protesters [at the border]."