Talks on ending Gaza war \\\'difficult\\\', but truce holds

Talks to end a month-long war between Israel and Gaza militants are ‘difficult’, Palestinian delegates said on Tuesday, while Israeli officials said no progress had been made so far and fighting could soon resume. As a 72-hour ceasefire held for a second day, Palestinian negotiators held fresh talks with Egyptian intelligence following a meeting on Monday that lasted nine hours. Hamas, the Islamist group that dominates the Gaza Strip and its allies are seeking an end to an Israeli and Egyptian blockade of the coastal Palestinian enclave. ‘We are facing difficult negotiations,’ Hamas' leader in Cairo, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said on Twitter. An Israeli official, who declined to be named, said the gaps between the sides were big. ‘There is no progress in the negotiations,’ the official said. Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told Israel's armed forces to prepare for a possible resumption of hostilities. ‘I don't know if, by midnight on Wednesday, we will reach an accommodation. I don't know if we will need to extend negotiations. It could be that shooting will erupt again and we will again be firing at them,’ he said, visiting a navy base, according to Reuters.