Abbas says reached deal with militants on "calm"

GAZA, Aug 17 (Reuters) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said today armed groups had agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel from Gaza, but militants said such a move would be dependent on Israel halting its offensive.

''Yesterday all factions met and agreed on calm and stopping all actions that may give others a pretext to attack us,'' Abbas said in a speech at a graduation ceremony for 500 new recruits to his presidential security force.

Israel, which pulled out of the Gaza Strip a year ago, has been carrying out ground and air attacks in the territory in a bid to stop cross-border rocket fire and to press for the release of an Israeli soldier abducted by militants in June.

Israel has rejected demands for the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return for the safe return of Corporal Gilad Shalit. About 180 Palestinians, nearly half of them civilians, have been killed in the Israeli military offensive.

Khader Habib, a political leader of the militant Islamic Jihad group, said there had been a ''general tendency'' among most of the factions that attended yesterday's meeting with Abbas to halt rocket attacks.

He said that while Islamic Jihad would not be part of any formal deal to cease firing rockets, the group would not violate any agreement reached by other factions to stop the attacks.

A Palestinian official close to the talks said factions would not necessarily announce a ceasefire deal but would likely halt their attacks if Israel did the same.

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