Middle East News

Kerry In Middle East In Attempt To Broker Gaza Ceasefire

Burj Khalifa

As death toll continues to rise in the latest ground offensive in Gaza City, the U.S. has called on both Israel and Hamas leaders to end the armed conflict that erupted two weeks ago.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived on Cairo on Monday to aggressively push for ceasefire with the help from Egypt—who backed a truce last week but rejected by Hamas—in reinstating the November 2012 agreement between the two parties, the CNN reported.

Since the launch of attacks on July 7, a total of 27 Israeli soldiers and 604 Palestinians were killed—a fifth of which were children and around 70 to 80 percent were civilians—Gaza health officials and United Nations said, further intensifying outrage on social media against Israel’s merciless operations in the Palestinian territory.

President Obama said in White House on Monday that he instructed Kerry to “push for an immediate cessation of hostilities,” in a report by the Associated Press.

[quote author=”– President Obama”]

It now has to be our focus and the focus of the international community to bring about a cease-fire that ends the fighting… Obviously it will not be easy.

[/quote]

Last week, Hamas militants rejected offers of truce that was backed by Egypt and the U.S. and preferred alternative proposals from Qatar and Turkish governments, which have ties to Muslim Brotherhood.

Kerry, in his rounds of television interviews on Sunday, criticized this decision and emphasized that Hamas has a huge responsibility in the conflict. He also accused the militant group of infiltrating and attacking Israeli cities through its network of underground tunnels.

Both Obama and Kerry maintained Israel’s right to secure its border and defended itself from Hamas’ frequent attacks.

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