JERUSALEM, Israel - Israel officially accepted the Egyptian-brokered tadahiyeh , slated to begin at 6:00 a.m. Thursday.

"If the fighting indeed ceases Thursday as planned, Israel will ease its blockade of Gaza next week," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"Thursday will be the beginning, we hope, of a new reality where Israeli citizens in the South will no longer be on the receiving end of continuous rocket attacks," he said.

"Israel is giving a serious chance to this Egyptian initiative and we want it to succeed," Regev said.

Meanwhile, Major General Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomatic Military Bureau, who returned from the latest round of talks with Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman Tuesday, said Hamas accepted Israel's terms.

"This is not a peace agreement," Gilad told Israel Radio. "There is an understanding based on the effectiveness of military activities until now, and the will to stop it. At this point, we are exhausting all possibilities," he said.

Source: The Jerusalem Post