Egypt invites Israel, Palestinians for "indefinite" ceasefire, truce talks

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Xinhua) - Egypt on Saturday called on both Israel and the Palestinians to accept an indefinite ceasefire proposal and resume truce talks over the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Egypt invites the concerned parties to accept an indefinite ceasefire, and resume indirect negotiations in Cairo to clinch an agreement on the presented issues, aiming to put an end to the bloodshed of the Palestinian people, achieve their interests and protect their legitimate rights," the statement said.

Egypt also warned against the ongoing military escalation against the restive coastal enclave that causes the Gazans "great human and materialistic losses."

The North African Arab state has recently brokered several temporary ceasefire agreements between Gaza-ruling Hamas movement and Israel, until the latest was breached amid mutual accusations.

The Egyptian invitation came as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks on Saturday with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel- Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo over the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"My main goal is to resume the truce talks in Cairo as soon as possible so as to prevent more bloodshed," Abbas told a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry.

Abbas reaffirmed support for the Egyptian truce initiative, saying "we don't see any alternative for this initiative and we informed Hamas that it is the only way out of the ongoing crisis."

Egypt managed to reach a long-term truce between Hamas and Israel in late 2012 during the one-year rule of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.  

The Palestinian president, who arrived in Cairo on Friday after a joint meeting with Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, said that "Hamas is persuaded and asserted that it does not mind Egypt's sponsorship of the negotiations."

Abbas continued that Egypt is the only country that is able to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians, adding that Egypt is going to invite delegates of both sides back to Cairo.

Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a press release on Saturday that the movement supports "any real effort that guarantees the achievement of the Palestinian demands," noting that Hamas is willing to study any peacemaking proposal.

The Palestinian conditions for a permanent truce, most of which are declined by Israel, include lifting the Israeli seven-year- long blockade against the Strip, opening the border crossings, releasing Palestinian prisoners agreed-upon with Israel in a previous prisoner swap, allowing establishment of a seaport and an airport in Gaza and holding an international donor conference for Gaza reconstruction.

Disarming Hamas and demilitarization of Gaza are the major Israeli demands for a truce with the Palestinian resistance movement and for easing the blockade on the Strip; Hamas rejects being disarmed as the right of resistance against "an occupying force" is guaranteed in the international law.

France, Germany and the UK have recently proposed a UN resolution on the Gaza conflict, urging disarmament of Hamas in return for Israel lifting the blockade on Gaza.

The resolution, leaked by Israeli Haaretz daily newspaper on Thursday, calls for Hamas to hand over power in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority led by Abbas, who is willing to recognize Israel in return for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

It also prompts Israel to lift its economic and humanitarian restrictions on the Palestinian enclave and reopen all Gaza crossings, while a new international mission would supervise the reconstruction of Gaza damaged buildings and infrastructure.
 
CONFLICT CONTINUES

Israeli warplanes have been pounding Gaza with more than 47 airstrikes since last night, amidst renewed efforts by Egypt to achieve a ceasefire in the 47-day long fighting between Israel and Hamas.

The airstrikes killed at least eight people, five of them coming from the same family, including two children, according to Palestinian health officials.

Throughout Saturday, Hamas continued firing rockets into southern Israel, causing no damages or injuries. "Since midnight, about 60 rockets were fired at Israel," a military spokesperson said.

On Saturday morning, the Israeli military has been throwing leaflets and sending text messages to residents of the Gaza strip, warning them to stay away from rockets launching sites "for their own safety."

The messages said Israel will attack each and every area from which rockets were supposedly fired towards the Jewish State. " Every house from which militant activity is carried out, will be targeted," the message warned.

The escalated air raids came a day after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a tough response for the death of four-year-old Daniel Tragerman, who was hit by a mortar shell in the community of Nahal Oz near the Gaza border on Friday afternoon.

Netanyahu said the military and Security Service (the Shin Bet) will "intensify" the offensive in Gaza, and will exact "a heavy price" from Hamas.

Initially, the military said the mortar was launched from a site adjacent to a UN school in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. However, early on Saturday the military retracted its accusation, admitting the school was maintained as a shelter by Hamas, not the UN.

Tragerman was the first child among the Israeli casualties since Israel embarked on the Gaza war on July 8, which cost Israel the lives of 64 soldiers and four civilians.

In Gaza, 2,096 Palestinians have been killed and 10,540 more have been injured, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. About a quarter of the casualties are children, according to UNICEF.

The 47 days of devastating air raids and shelling left an " unprecedented" number of 314,000 people displaced, unable to return their homes, UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said in a statement.