http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-25/kerry-says-no-truce-accord-for-gaza-talks-to-extend.html
Israel and Hamas were observing a 12-hour ceasefire today, bolstering U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s effort to bring an end to the conflict in Gaza that has killed almost 1,000 people.
The initial pause would help build a possible week-long truce for the Muslim festival of Eid that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Kerry said in Cairo yesterday. Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu “has indicated his willingness to do that as a good-faith down payment to move forward,” Kerry told journalists.
Hamas, the Islamist organization that rules Gaza, agreed to a humanitarian cease-fire starting at 7 a.m. local time, according to pro-Hamas TV station al-Aqsa. Israel’s army said it would halt its fire from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. while continuing work to “locate and neutralize” tunnels in Gaza it says can be used by Hamas to strike Israel.
Neither side has agreed to Kerry’s plan for a week-long cease-fire during which talks on a durable settlement can get under way. While the “basic outline” has been accepted on all sides, Kerry said, there are still problems of “terminology and context of the framework.” He’ll continue the pursuit of a truce today from Paris, where foreign ministers from European Union nations and Hamas allies Qatar and Turkey are due to join negotiations.Susan Rice, President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, told reporters at the White House that a 12-hour pause “would be a very modest initial step” and that “in some ways, I’m more skeptical of these very short cease-fires.”
Israel and Hamas were observing a 12-hour ceasefire today, bolstering U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s effort to bring an end to the conflict in Gaza that has killed almost 1,000 people.
The initial pause would help build a possible week-long truce for the Muslim festival of Eid that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Kerry said in Cairo yesterday. Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu “has indicated his willingness to do that as a good-faith down payment to move forward,” Kerry told journalists.
Hamas, the Islamist organization that rules Gaza, agreed to a humanitarian cease-fire starting at 7 a.m. local time, according to pro-Hamas TV station al-Aqsa. Israel’s army said it would halt its fire from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. while continuing work to “locate and neutralize” tunnels in Gaza it says can be used by Hamas to strike Israel.
Neither side has agreed to Kerry’s plan for a week-long cease-fire during which talks on a durable settlement can get under way. While the “basic outline” has been accepted on all sides, Kerry said, there are still problems of “terminology and context of the framework.” He’ll continue the pursuit of a truce today from Paris, where foreign ministers from European Union nations and Hamas allies Qatar and Turkey are due to join negotiations.Susan Rice, President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, told reporters at the White House that a 12-hour pause “would be a very modest initial step” and that “in some ways, I’m more skeptical of these very short cease-fires.”
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