Hamas, Jihad take truce

"We have accepted a conditional cease-fire for three months," the leader, Mohammed al-Hindi, told The Associated Press.

Al-Hindi said intensive meetings on Saturday between Islamic Jihad, the larger militant group Hamas and Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction were working out the final wording of an official cease-fire declaration.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

"I expect that it's going to be finished within 24 hours and after that it will be declared, if not tomorrow, the day after," al-Hindi said.

Hamas leaders had indicated that they've agreed to the truce, but they were waiting to declare formal acceptance in the joint declaration with all the parties. None had gone on the record to say so.

Hamas officials Osama Hamadan and Imad al-Alami arrived in Cairo Friday night and had already had a first meeting with Egyptian officials, the source said, adding that an Islamic Jihad delegation was due to join the talks Saturday.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement have "agreed on" a truce document which will be released within the next few days, a senior official of the radical Hamas movement said Friday.

"There is a shared document, which reflects a shared position, and was agreed on by Hamas, Jihad and Fatah. It will be announced very soon, within a few days," Abdelaziz al-Rantissi told AFP, adding that Hamas "prepared the document."

Rantissi said the three factions now needed to inform Arafat's "Palestinian Authority, our brothers in Egypt and other concerned parties".

Earlier report says, Israeli army will withdraw Monday from parts of the Gaza Strip under a deal reached with the Palestinian Authority, both public and army radio announced.

Citing "senior officials," both reports said Israeli forces will also pull out of the West Bank town of Bethlehem, but did not say when.

The moves will come as part of a deal reached Friday under which Israel will leave certain autonomous areas re-occupied after the Palestinian uprising broke out 33 months ago, with the Palestinian Authority agreeing to police those areas and guarantee that no anti-Israeli attacks are carried out from them.

Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday welcomed an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority for Israeli forces to withdraw first from positions in the Gaza Strip and then in Bethlehem.

"He looks forward to continued implementation of the roadmap, leading to a permanent settlement of the conflict based on Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) 338 (1973) and 1397 (2002)," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a statement.

The United States "applauds" an agreement in principle between Israeli and Palestinian officials over an Israeli army withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the White House said Friday.