 Pro-Palestinian protesters hold a giant Palestinian flag as they attend a demonstration, which has been authorized by the police, against violence in the A truce remained elusive despise intensive mediation efforts. An Egyptian official said on Wednesday that a more limited humanitarian ceasefire may go into effect by the weekend, in time for the Eid al-Fitr festival, Islam's biggest annual celebration that follows the fasting month of Ramadan. But the "It would not be accurate to say that we expect a ceasefire by the weekend," said a senior The death toll in Such shelling surged last month as Though The ensuing wave of cancellations by foreign airlines emptied Flights to resume Saying it had reviewed the security situation, the FAA cancelled the ban late on Wednesday, and "The Europeans did not really deliberate over this, but acted more as a follow-up to the American decision," said Gadi Regev, chief of staff for In what appeared to be let-up in Palestinian attacks, the Israeli military said on Thursday only one rocket had been launched from Let's agree first on the demands and on implementing them and then we can agree on the zero hour for a ceasefire ... We will not accept any proposal that does not lift the blockade ... We do not desire war and we do not want it to continue but we will not be broken by it." -- Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal An Israeli official briefed on the deliberations said the army required four of five days to destroy cross-border tunnels and rocket arsenals, but acknowledged Palestinians were unlikely to hold fire while those missions continued on the ground. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said his fighters had made gains against "Let's agree first on the demands and on implementing them and then we can agree on the zero hour for a ceasefire ... We will not accept any proposal that does not lift the blockade ... We do not desire war and we do not want it to continue but we will not be broken by it," Meshaal said on Wednesday in Qatar. Israel also came under criticism from the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who said there was "a strong possibility" Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza, where 703 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the fighting. Pillay also condemned indiscriminate Islamist rocket fire out of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted furiously. "The decision today by the HRC is a travesty," he said in a statement. "The HRC should be launching an investigation into Hamas's decision to turn hospitals into military command centres, use schools as weapons depots and place missile batteries next to playgrounds, private homes and mosques." Rockets in schools U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has also been on a truce-seeking mission, lashed out at militants in Storing the rockets in the schools "turned schools into potentially military targets, endangering the lives of innocent children," U.N. employees and the tens of thousands of Palestinians seeking shelter at Kerry returned to "We have certainly made some steps forward. There is still work to be done," said Kerry, on one of his most intensive regional visits since Netanyahu called off U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations over Abbas's power-share deal with Hamas in April. The military says one of its soldiers is also missing and believes he might be dead. Hamas says it has captured him, but has not released a picture of him in their hands. Hamas, which rejects The war is exacting a heavy toll on impoverished |
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