(Adds quotes, detail) PARIS, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Middle East envoy Tony Blair said on Thursday a truce proposal being studied by Israel was "credible" and could lead to an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Diplomatic sources said earlier that Israeli leaders were studying Hamas's terms for a truce. Israel said later that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni would travel to Washington to finalise an accord designed to prevent Hamas from rearming, a key Israeli condition for a ceasefire. "Over the last few days the details have been discussed and worked on and I think actually there is plainly now a credible plan to stop if people want to stop," Blair told reporters after meeting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. "There is no doubt at all now that there are not just the elements but the details of a plan that can bring an immediate ceasefire," he said, The former British prime minister, who is the envoy for the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- said he hoped there would be a ceasefire deal soon. The sources said the terms included a year-long, renewable ceasefire, the withdrawal of all Israel forces within 5 to 7 days, and the immediate opening of all Gaza border crossings, backed by international guarantees they would stay open. Asked if those points were part of the plan, Kouchner said: "What you have mentioned is indeed part of the proposal that has come from Egypt." Blair was in Paris for a regular follow-up meeting to last year's Palestinian donors' conference with EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store. The four officials said they were "seriously alarmed" by the continued violence in Gaza and southern Israel. The Palestinian death toll from Israel's military offensive in Gaza was at least 1,105, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Thirteen Israelis have been killed -- 10 soldiers, and three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire. "The human casualties, among them many children and women, are unbearable. The hostilities must stop immediately in order to ensure that no more lives are lost," Blair, Kouchner, Ferrero-Waldner and Store said in a statement. (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Giles Elgood)
An Israeli soldier jumps off a tank in the northern Gaza Strip January 15, 2009. Israel killed a senior Hamas leader in an air strike on Thursday after unleashing its heaviest ...
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