Jerusalem: Washington’s top diplomat John Kerry Thursday pressed efforts to end bloodshed in Gaza, reaching out to allies of Hamas as the Islamist movement’s war with Israel raged into a 17th day. Fifteen people were killed Thursday when Israeli fire hit a UN shelter in Gaza, as the Palestinian toll in the 17-day conflict rose to 798, medics said. Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said at least 15 people had been killed and 200 wounded by Israeli shelling of a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the northern town of Beit Hanun, where hundreds of civilians had sought refuge from the violence. He gave no immediate details of those killed, but an AFP correspondent reported that a mother and her one-year-old infant were among the dead brought into a nearby mortary. Earlier Thursday, US airlines lifted a flight ban to Israel, with other international airlines expected to follow suit. The US national aviation agency had imposed the restriction on Tuesday after a rocket hit a house very close to the runways, in a move mirrored by Europe. It was renewed late on Wednesday, prompting Hamas, the de facto power in Gaza, to hail the suspension of Tel Aviv flights as a “great victory for the resistance.” Shortly afterwards, the US agency rescinded the move. Kerry — who is in Egypt, which has drafted a truce proposal for the Israel-Hamas conflict — spoke by phone with the foreign ministers of Qatar and Turkey, a US official said. Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal is based in Qatar, while Turkey’s Islamist-oriented Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has harshly criticised Israel’s assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza as well as Egypt’s role in trying to clinch a ceasefire. A US official said Kerry was hoping Qatar and Turkey would use their influence to encourage Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan, which the Islamist group has so far rejected. Meshaal vowed late on Wednesday there would be no end to the fighting without the lifting of Israel’s eight-year blockade on Gaza. Despite Hamas’s intransigence, the skies over southern Israel remained quiet for seven hours, the army said, in what was the calmest night since the Israeli operation began on July 8. Since 5:00 am (0200 GMT), just six projectiles struck the south, while another three were intercepted, a spokeswoman said.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 11:25:26 +0000
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