US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to resume peace talks suspended over an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, but she did not specify a date.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said earlier the negotiations could not get under way again until Israel reached a ceasefire with militants behind cross-border rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Mr Abbas's comments touched off a flurry of behind-the-scenes lobbying by Ms Rice with the Palestinians. After speaking to Mr Abbas by telephone, she told a news conference a truce was not a condition for restarting the talks on Palestinian statehood.
"I've been informed by the parties that they intend to resume the negotiations and that they are in contact with one another as to how to bring this about," Ms Rice said at a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
Ms Rice, ending a two-day visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank, did not say when the next round of talks, which the United States hopes can result in an agreement before US President George W. Bush leaves office in January, would be held.
Mr Abbas's office issued a statement after he spoke to Ms Rice that did not repeat his condition for talks. It said Ms Rice was exerting efforts to "enforce a mutual calm" and Mr Abbas's intention was to "resume the peace process and negotiations".
Meanwhile
a 1-month-old baby was killed after 25 Israeli armored vehicles rolled into southern Gaza last night and clashed with Palestinian militants.
The Israeli tanks fired shells and attack helicopters fired missiles during the clashes, Palestinian witnesses said.
The baby girl was killed by a ricocheting bullet, Palestinian Health Ministry official Moaiya Hassanain said. A local Islamic Jihad leader was killed and eight militants and three civilians were wounded, none of them seriously, he said.
At least 26 children have died since Israeli forces began their assault on Hamas militants in Gaza last Wednesday.
Islamic Jihad in a statement pledged revenge attacks "in the depths of the Zionist enemy, God willing."
Israeli defence officials said it was a "pinpoint" operation aimed at Gaza militants. It came just a day after Israel ended a destructive and bloody ground operation in northern Gaza against Palestinian rocket squads.
The armored column entered Gaza through the Kissufim crossing, which was the main crossing point for Israeli settlers in Gaza before Israel's 2005 pullout, witnesses said.
The soldiers arrested two Islamic Jihad militants and were pulling out two hours after the incursion, witnesses said. The Israeli military confirmed that the operation was over.