Israelis expect Gaza ceasefire breakdown

Eriz Megish returned last week to his Segway business from the front unsure how long the ceasefire brokered by Egypt will last, but relieved he didn't have to kill anyone. Yashwant Raj reports.

Eriz Megish returned last week to his Segway business from the front unsure how long the ceasefire brokered by Egypt will last, but relieved he didn't have to kill anyone.

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He was among the thousands of reservists mobilised by the Israeli government for a possible ground attack on Gaza that eventually never happened.

The peace remained fragile though, with not many giving it much of a chance. Not at least in the long term. Megish said he doesn't believe it will last long.

But as long as it does, he is going to make the most of it running his business with his girlfriend, who, though happy to have him back, accepts the inevitability of the situation.

The world had watched anxiously as Israel threatened a full-scale war during the eight-day conflict in retaliation against rocket attacks from Hamas-held Gaza. Most of those rockets were destroyed mid-air by the Iron Dome missile system but some did make it killing Israeli civilians. But casualties in Gaza were many times more.

Talks started on Monday with Egyptian mediators engaging separately with Israeli and Hamas officials. A US official told The Jerusalem Post, an Israeli newspaper, that as a "goodwill gesture" Israel agreed to extend Palestinian fishing rights from 3 to 6 miles off the Gaza coast.