Israeli PM cancels trip abroad amid talk of Gaza truce

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a planned visit to Latin America amid reports of an “imminent” truce with Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas.

According to a Thursday statement released by his office, Netanyahu “has decided to stay in Israel next week due to the situation in the south [i.e. the Gaza Strip] and has therefore canceled his planned trip to Colombia”.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Netanyahu had canceled his scheduled trip “amid reports of progress in Egypt-brokered talks between Israel and the Hamas leadership in Gaza”.

It is the first time for Netanyahu to cancel a planned trip overseas due to a security-related matter.

While Hamas has yet to confirm reports that it is close to hammering out a truce deal with Israel, observers quoted in Israeli media say an agreement is “imminent”.

Two weeks ago, Israel and Gaza-based resistance factions announced a limited ceasefire deal after a series of escalations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.

For the past three months, Palestinians have been staging regular demonstrations near the buffer zone.

Since the demonstrations began on Mar. 30, more than 150 Palestinians have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army gunfire.

Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel’s 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.