REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, GAZA/JERUSALEM - Israel pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, saying no ceasefire was near as top US and United Nations diplomats pursued talks on halting the fighting. The fighting has claimed at least 616 lives, including nearly 100 children and many other civilians, Gaza health officials said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry held discussions in neighboring Egypt, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv and planned to see the Palestinian prime minister in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday. Kerry held talks on Tuesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri.
"There is a framework ... to end the violence and that framework is the Egyptian initiative," Kerry said at a news conference with Shukri.
However, there was no let-up in the fighting around Gaza, with plumes of black smoke spiralling into the sky, and Israeli shells raining down on the coastal Palestinian enclave.
Israel launched its offensive on July 8 to halt missile salvoes out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas, the dominant group in the coastal territory, which was angered by a crackdown on its supporters in the occupied West Bank and suffering economic hardship because of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade.
"A ceasefire is not near," said Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, viewed as the most dovish member of Netanyahu's inner security cabinet. "I see no light at the end of the tunnel," she told Israel's Army Radio.
Egypt was key to securing an end to a previous bout of Gaza fighting in 2012, but the country's new leadership is openly hostile to Hamas, possibly complicating the negotiations. "We hope (Kerry's) visit will result in a ceasefire that provides the necessary security for the Palestinian people and that we can commence to address the medium and long-term issues related to Gaza," Shukri said.
Israel's casualties also mounted, with the military announcing the deaths of two more soldiers, bringing the number of army fatalities to 27 - almost three times as many as were killed in the last ground invasion of Gaza, in a 2008-2009 war. Two Israeli civilians have also been killed by Palestinian rocket fire into Israel.
Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika