Israeli troops will begin reducing activities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on Monday ahead of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit this week, local daily Jerusalem Post reported.
According to a decision by Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the army would continue to hunt down Palestinian militants, but does not have plans for any large-scale operations which could lead to an escalation of violence, the report said.
The spokeswoman of IDF declined to comment on the scale-down operations, but confirmed with Xinhua that there is no military operations along Gaza at the moment.
Bush will arrive in Israel on Wednesday and visit the Palestinian territories on Thursday as part of a regional tour that will cover seven states in nine days, during which the U.S. president is expected to press Israel and the Palestinians to accelerate their recently revived peace talks.
"This is a sensitive time diplomatically," a senior defense official said Sunday.
Also on Sunday, five Israeli soldiers were wounded, one moderately, in fighting in central Gaza. At least five Palestinian gunmen were killed and 50 terror suspects were detained.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting that despite the expected lull during Bush's visit, the IDF would continue to escalate its operations against Palestinian terrorists in Gaza in response to their rocket attacks.
Source:Xinhua
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