US and many European air carriers halted flights to the Zionist entity on Tuesday, citing security worries after a rocket from seized Gaza landed near Israels main Ben Gurion airport. --------------------------------------- In a blow to Israels economy, rockets from seized Gaza forced airlines from the US and Europe to halt flights to the Zionist entity, as diplomatic efforts failed to end an Israeli offensive that has martyred over 630 Palestinians. One rocket that crashed just a few kilometers north of Tel Avivs Ben Gurion international airport prompted the US Federal Aviation Authority to ban airlines from flying to and from Israel for at least 24 hours. The European Aviation Safety Agency advised all carriers to avoid Tel Aviv until further notice. Meanwhile, Israels Transportation Ministry called on the companies to reverse their decision, insisting the facility was safe. Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked US Secretary of State John Kerry to help restore US flights, an Israeli official said. Israel insisted it would press on with its punishing aerial and ground assault, while Hamas continued to respond by firing rockets and inflicting more casualties on the Zionist army. As the Israeli offensive entered its third week, the US and Egypt discussed cease-fire proposals in Cairo, and the Palestinian authority leadership sought to coax Hamas to end Israeli hostilities. In Cairo, Kerry discussed cease-fire proposals with Egypts President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi with both voicing guarded hopes of an end to the violence. Kerry again placed the onus on Hamas to accept a cease-fire, voicing support for an Egyptian truce initiative as a framework to end the fighting. Hamas has already rejected the Egyptian initiative, saying the plan ignores its demands for the release of prisoners and for a more comprehensive lifting of an economic blockade on the seized Gaza Strip. Moreover, the Egyptian plan does not specify a timeline for easing the siege, saying crossings shall be opened and the passage of persons and goods through border crossings shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground. Kerry also spoke to Netanyahu as well as the foreign ministers of Turkey and Qatar after his two-hour meeting with Sisi, according to a senior US official. A senior Palestinian official said talks were also ongoing between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas for a cease-fire. Abbas has also proposed a formula for ending the fighting, calling for an immediate cease-fire followed by five days of talks, a Palestinian official said in Cairo. Despite a flurry of diplomatic efforts, the martyr toll on the ground rose to over 630 Palestinians in seized Gaza, medics said, including three children and 10 women, one of whom was pregnant. Israel pummeled targets throughout the besieged coastal enclave, with its tanks hitting a UN school sheltering the displaced, said the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 12:47:15 +0000
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