Abbas, Kerry Discuss Gaza Ceasefire On Phone

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received late Tuesday a phone call from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as part of U.S. contacts to push towards a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.



During the conversation, Abbas and Kerry discussed the latest efforts aiming to restore calm in the Gaza Strip, including an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire between Gaza-based Palestinian resistance factions and Israel, Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.



Kerry held talks on Tuesday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo on the situation in Gaza.



Cairo presented its ceasefire proposal last week amid a raging Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip, which has left at least 636 Palestinians dead – mostly civilians – since it began on July 7 with the stated aim of staunching Palestinian rocket fire.



The proposal, initially accepted by Israel, was turned down by Gaza-based resistance factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who said they were never consulted about the terms of the plan.



The initiative called on Israel to cease all hostilities in the Gaza Strip, halt all ground operations and refrain from targeting civilians.



It also called on Palestinian factions to cease hostilities against Israel, halt rocket fire and cross-border attacks and stop targeting civilians.



The overture further called for reopening Gaza's closed border crossings and facilitating the movement of persons and goods in and out of the embattled coastal strip, once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.



Egypt, which shares a border with both the Gaza Strip and Israel, has long played a mediating role between Israel and Palestinian factions.



But its relations with Hamas have deteriorated since the ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi by the army last summer.



Earlier this year, an Egyptian court banned Hamas – an ideological offshoot of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group – from operating in the country.



Israel's ongoing operation, dubbed "Operation Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populated Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.



In 2008/9, over 1500 Palestinians were killed in Israel's three-week-long "Operation Cast Lead."



By Qais Abu Samra



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Ramallah