"Israel would respond very positively to the idea of a complete cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, which is what we hoped for in September 2005 when we left every inch of the Gaza Strip," Eisin said. "If the Palestinian factions have a proposal which is supposed to bring about the complete stopping of fire from the Gaza Strip, Israel would be very happy to stop all, all - and I'm going to say it again - all fire from the Gaza Strip."

A Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Ismail Radwan, watered down Haniyeh's talk of a cease-fire, saying the Palestinian factions had agreed to "alter their strategies of resistance" if Israel halted fire.

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The Palestinian rocket fire, which over the years has generated more panic and anxiety than casualties, grew deadlier over the past week, claiming the lives of two Israeli civilians.

Eisin said Israel regarded recent efforts by moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to achieve a "complete stop of all violence" as a "very positive development."

Abbas has been trying to work out a package deal with Haniyeh that would include a total cease-fire and a more moderate government of professionals to replace the one led by Hamas, which doesn't recognize the Jewish state.

The two men met twice on Thursday, and aides to Abbas said the key sticking point in coalition talks was who would control the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of powerful Palestinian security branches.

Abbas hopes a more moderate government would encourage the West to restore vitally needed aid, cut off after Hamas took power in March. Western leaders have said the flow would not resume until the Palestinian government recognizes Israel and renounces violence.

Hamas' political chief, Khaled Mashaal, was in Cairo on Friday for talks with Egyptian mediators on the so-called national unity government, but no breakthrough was reported.

In Damascus, Syria, the Palestinian foreign minister, Mahmoud Zahar, blamed Abbas' effort to create a government of technocrats for the failure in forming a unity government. He called it a "dangerous" idea that was unacceptable to Hamas.

Zahar, who spoke late Thursday after meeting with radical Palestinian factions, also repeated Hamas' stance that it will not agree to any government that would recognize Israel and renounce violence against the Jewish state.

In northern Gaza, hundreds gathered to bury a 64-year-old grandmother who blew herself up a day earlier as Israeli forces moved through the Jebaliya refugee camp.

Mourners shouting "God is great" draped her simple wooden coffin with a green Hamas flag on Friday before driving it off to a nearby cemetery.

"I knew she wanted martyrdom. She was brave. But I'm still surprised that she did it," said one of her 38 grandchildren, 13-year-old Leila.

Fatma An-Najar was by far the oldest of more than 100 Palestinian suicide bombers who have attacked Israelis over the past six years, killing hundreds.

Female suicide bombers were a rarity during the first several years of the current conflict, but have become more common over the years as women become more involved in the Palestinian struggle.

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