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US truce rejected: media

July 25, 2014

Israeli media report that the country's Security Cabinet has rejected a proposal mooted by US Secretary of State John Kerry for a truce between Israel and Hamas. The death toll from fighting is now nearing 850.

https://p.dw.com/p/1CjA1
Gaza Offensive
Image: Reuters

Israeli public television reported on Friday that the country's Security Cabinet had unanimously rejected a truce proposal put forward by US Secretary of State John Kerry in its current form, but that ministers were discussing changes that might make it acceptable.

The proposal calls for a temporary truce to allow Israel and Hamas to hold indirect talks about easing the border closure of the blockaded Gaza Strip - one of the major demands of the Islamist group.

Israel TV said the Security Council had rejected the plan because it did not allow troops to continue destroying tunnels that are being used for cross-border attacks by Hamas militants.

'Right framework'

Speaking at a news conference in Cairo with UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Kerry said that no truce had been reached, but that he was still confident the framework he proposed would ultimately succeed.

Speaking about the rejection of a truce reported by Israeli media, Kerry said the Cabinet míght have rejected some formulations regarding a possible truce, but that he had not yet submitted any formal proposal for Israel to vote on.

At the conference, Kerry and Ban called for a seven-day humanitarian truce, starting with a 12-hour extendable pause.

Kerry has been shuttling about the region for the past few days, holding talks with leading political figures about how to bring the spiraling conflict under control.

West Bank spillover

Despite the intensifying international mediation efforts, fighting between Israel and Hamas continued on Friday.

The 18-day conflict, in which Israel has responded to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip with air strikes and a ground offensive, has killed more than 800 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and some 38 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

The violence in the Gaza Strip spilled over into the West Bank on Friday, with six Palestinians killed in separate incidents near the cities of Nablus and Hebron, according to medics. Witnesses blamed one shooting on an apparent Israeli settler.

Israel reported that three more of its soldiers were killed on Friday in Gaza and also announced that a soldier unaccounted for after an ambush six days ago was definitely dead, although his body had not yet been recovered.

Three Israeli civilian deaths through Palestinian rocket fire have strengthened Israeli resolve to continue with the offensive until Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip, is weakened.

Meanwhile, the German airline Lufthansa announced on Friday that it would resume flights to Israel from Saturday, with Air France also saying it would do the same later in the day.

Several international airlines had suspended flights to Tel Aviv on Tuesday after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed near Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main aviation hub.

tj/mkg (reuters, AFP, AP)