Egyptian delegation visits Gaza protests

GAZA - An Egyptian security delegation visited protests along the Gaza-Israel barrier Friday, organisers said, as it sought to broker a long-term truce between the Jewish state and the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas.

In the first such publicly announced visit by Egyptian officials, the delegation briefly attended the Palestinian demonstrations in northern Gaza, a statement from the head of the organising committee said.

Eyewitnesses said a car carrying the delegation briefly drove to a protest site a few hundred metres from the border, before departing.

Friday's protests come amid talk of a breakthrough in months of Egyptian-led negotiations. A truce deal would see the often-violent protests end in exchange for an easing of Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Thousands again gathered at multiple sites near the frontier Friday but largely stayed away from the fence. Hamas security prevented protesters from approaching the border too closely, the correspondents said.

Seven Palestinians were shot and wounded by Israeli fire, the health ministry in the enclave said.

Reports Thursday suggested Egypt had brokered a deal that would see Hamas end the months of often violent demonstrations in exchange for a loosening of Israel's crippling blockade on the strip.

Local media suggested Hamas was keen to keep Friday's protests calm to ensure goodwill with mediators Egypt and the United Nations.

Unlike previous protests, demonstrators did not fly kites with attached incendiary devices across the border to set fire to Israeli farmland, while few tyres were burned, the correspondents said.

The previous week's demonstrations saw seven Palestinians killed and a further 180 others wounded by Israeli fire during fierce clashes, according to the ministry.

At least 218 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since protests began on March 30.

In that time, one Israeli soldier was killed by a Palestinian sniper.