Tag: gaza city
Kerry Travels To Cairo Seeking ‘Immediate Ceasefire’

Kerry Travels To Cairo Seeking ‘Immediate Ceasefire’

Washington (AFP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Cairo early Monday for crisis talks on Gaza, following President Barack Obama’s call for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israelis and Palestinians.

The US top diplomat is scheduled to meet with senior officials from Egypt and other countries, the State Department said, in a bid to halt a blistering land, sea, and air assault that has sent thousands of terrified civilians fleeing their homes.

Kerry will seek “an immediate cessation of hostilities based on a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement,” the White House said, stressing the need to protect civilian life both “in Gaza and in Israel.”

According to the State Department, Kerry supports Egypt’s initiative to bring about a ceasefire. His visit to the region comes in parallel with a high-profile peace mission by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Obama spoke Sunday by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express his “serious concern” after more than 100 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in the bloodiest day since the Gaza offensive was launched.

As more human remains are pulled from the rubble, the Palestinian death toll had risen to 501 by Monday, the fifth day of the Israeli ground operation.

Kerry’s high-stakes trip came as U.S. media reported that two American members of the Israeli Defense Force were killed in Gaza fighting.

The State Department said two US citizens were killed in Gaza violence, but did not immediately disclose their occupations.

– Obama decries rising death toll –

During their second call in three days, Obama and Netanyahu “discussed Israel’s ongoing military operation,” including “the loss of Israeli soldiers,” the White House added.

Obama “raised serious concern about the growing number of casualties, including increasing Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza and the loss of Israeli soldiers,” the White House said.

The U.S. leader also condemned attacks by Hamas and “reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself.”

“The president underscored that the United States will work closely with Israel and regional partners on implementing an immediate ceasefire, and stressed the need to protect civilians — in Gaza and in Israel.”

Kerry on Sunday did the rounds on the influential U.S. television political talk shows, with Netanyahu also appearing on two of the TV programs.

Just before Kerry’s Monday departure from Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, the UN Security Council deplored the mounting death toll in Gaza and appealed for an immediate ceasefire.

Meeting for two hours at an emergency session, the 15-member Council called for the respect of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.

In a statement, the Council threw its support behind Egypt’s bid to broker a truce as well as the peace mission by the UN’s Ban, who is due in Kuwait on Monday before heading to Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinian West Bank.

Egypt, which has been a mediator in previous Israel-Hamas conflicts, had proposed a halt to the fighting but Hamas rejected the initiative saying it had not been consulted. Israel initially accepted Cairo’s plan.

Hamas has laid out a set of conditions, including the lifting of Israel’s eight-year blockade on Gaza, the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and the release of scores of prisoners Israel re-arrested in recent weeks.

AFP Photo / Mohammed Abed

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U.S. Stocks Drop As Markets Eye Gaza, Ukraine

U.S. Stocks Drop As Markets Eye Gaza, Ukraine

New York (AFP) — U.S. stocks Monday moved lower in early trade as investors eyed conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine at the start of a busy week of corporate earnings.

About 20 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 70.96 points (0.41 percent) to 17,029.22.

The broad-based S&P 500 declined 6.53 (0.33 percent) to 1,971.69, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 12.45 (0.28 percent) at 4,419.69.

At an urgent meeting on Gaza, the UN Security Council urged an “immediate cessation of hostilities” in a call echoed by U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, Dutch forensics experts began examining bodies from a Malaysian plane disaster that have been held up at an east Ukraine train station as Kiev and insurgents wrangle over the fate of the remains. Russia has faced sharp criticism over its involvement in Ukraine in the wake of the incident.

The market is also looking ahead to earnings announcements this week from several closely-watched companies, including Apple, Boeing, and Facebook.

Oil-services company Halliburton gained 1.2 percent after net income for the second quarter rose 20 percent to $774 million and the company announced it had authorized $4.8 billion in additional stock repurchases.

Pharmaceutical company Allergan, which is fighting off an unsolicited takeover bid by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, announced it was cutting 1,500 employees, about 13 percent of its workforce, plus another 250 vacant positions. Shares rose 0.6 percent.

Fast-food chains McDonald’s and Yum Brands were under pressure as Shanghai officials shut a food supplier to the companies because of allegations workers at a factory mixed expired meat with the fresh product. Dow component McDonald’s lost 0.9 percent, while Yum, which owns the KFC chain, dropped 2.5 percent.

Reynolds American dropped 2.0 percent after a Florida jury ordered the tobacco company to pay $23.6 billion to the wife of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer. A Reynolds executive called the award “grossly excessive” and said he was confident the sum would not be upheld on appeal.

Jewelry company Tiffany dipped 0.3 percent as it announced that chief executive Michael Kowalski would retire in March 2015 and would be succeeded by president Frederic Cumenal.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury dipped to 2.47 percent from 2.48 percent Friday, while the 30-year fell to 3.27 percent from 3.29 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

AFP Photo/Spencer Platt

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Kerry Makes Mic Gaffe On Gaza

Kerry Makes Mic Gaffe On Gaza

Washington (AFP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appeared to criticize Israel in candid remarks caught on an open microphone between television interviews Sunday.

Kerry was heard talking about Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza to a State Department official identified as Jonathan Finer just before appearing on the “Fox News Sunday” political talk show.

“I hope they don’t think that’s an invitation to go do more,” Kerry says. “That better be the warning to them.”

A frustrated Kerry then says: “It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation, it’s a hell of a pinpoint operation,” in apparent frustration over the civilian toll in the Israeli operation.

The Palestinian death toll topped 500 on Sunday as Israel pressed a ground offensive into the densely packed Gaza Strip after two weeks of aerial attacks.

“We’ve got to get over there,” Kerry is heard saying on the Sunday recording. “I think, Jon, we ought to go tonight. I think it’s crazy to be sitting around. Let’s go.”

When confronted over the remarks by Fox host Chris Wallace, Kerry reiterated Israel’s right to self-defense.

“I think it’s very, very difficult in these situations, obviously very difficult,” Kerry said.

“You have people who’ve come out of tunnels. You have a right to go in and take out those tunnels. We completely support that. And we support Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets that are continuing to come in. Hamas has started this process of rocketing, after Israel was trying to find the people who killed three young — you know, one American kid, three young Israeli citizens. It’s disgraceful,” Kerry said.

“It’s tough to have this kind of operation. I reacted obviously in a way that … anybody does with respect to young children and civilians.

“But war is tough, and I’ve said that publicly and I’ve said it again. We defend Israel’s right to do what it is doing in order to get at those tunnels,” Kerry said.

Kerry then urged Hamas to “step up and be reasonable and understand that you accept the cease-fire, you save lives.”

Kerry traveled to Cairo early Monday for crisis talks on Gaza, following President Barack Obama’s call for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israelis and Palestinians in the conflict.

AFP Photo / Shah Marai

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Israeli Shelling Rocks Gaza; Palestinian Toll Tops 500

Israeli Shelling Rocks Gaza; Palestinian Toll Tops 500

By Batsheva Sobelman, Los Angeles Times

Gaza’s neighborhoods came under heavy shelling Monday as rockets continued to fly into Israel, and armed encounters between the sides claimed more lives ahead of U.S Secretary of State John F. Kerry’s expected arrival in the region.

Even as Kerry and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon prepare to weigh in and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was set to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Qatar, a cease-fire seemed far off and the crisis deeper than ever.

More Palestinians were on the move Monday morning as Israel’s military dropped leaflets cautioning residents of two refugee camps around Khan Younis. Fierce bombing continued overnight, killing at least 34 people, according to Palestinian reports.

One airstrike killed 11 members of the Siyam family in Rafah; in Khan Younis, 16 members of the Abu Jami family died when their house was shelled, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported.

In Shajaiya, emergency teams recovered more bodies from the rubble left by Sunday’s bombardment, pushing the Palestinian death toll in the two-week crisis above 500.

Israeli casualties mounted too as its military pushed deeper into crowded neighborhoods of Gaza in search of an elaborate network of tunnels dug under the strip to harbor weaponry and militants. Militants engaged ground forces with gunfire, anti-tank missiles, and explosives. One fierce battle ended with 10 dead militants; Israeli casualties were not immediately reported.

Since the ground operation began, 18 soldiers have been killed, including two U.S. citizens, and more than 80 injured.

About 59,000 reservists are already on active duty as the army stands by for government instructions to expand the operation in numbers and targets if needed. Israeli leaders stressed Monday that all options were on the table and that the operation would not end before the tunnels that borough into its territory have been destroyed.

“This is not the time to talk of a cease-fire,” Cabinet member Minister Gilead Erdan told reporters outside Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon Monday. “This mission cannot be completed until the strategic threat of tunnels is lifted,” the minister said, adding that Israel’s military should stay in the northern perimeter of Gaza until an arrangement that would demilitarize Gaza in the long term was achieved.

Several other Cabinet members commented Monday that the operation was not about to end.

After security consultations with his defensive minister and army chief of staff, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation would be “expanded until the goal is achieved — restoring quiet to the citizens of Israel for a long period.”

Since Thursday, 43 shafts leading to 16 tunnels in various locations throughout the Gaza Strip have been uncovered by troops and six tunnels have been destroyed with explosives and other means, according to military officials. Netanyahu said the results of the military campaign against the tunnels “exceeded expectations.”

At least 10 militants were killed Monday morning after infiltrating Israel through a tunnel emerging at an Israeli community near the border with Gaza and firing an anti-tank missile at an army jeep. The incident further underscored Israel’s concern about cross-border tunnels.

Roads were blocked and the residents of several communities were instructed to lock themselves in their homes while the army combed houses and countryside for militants they suspected planned to attack the civilians, the third such attempt in two days. The army has increased deployment in and around the communities near Gaza to counter the increasing attempts.

Although appearing slightly diminished in scope and range, rocket fire into Israel has persisted throughout the operation despite the destruction of around 3,000 rocket launchers, according to army officials.

While officials say Israel has found a working, if not hermetic, answer to incoming rockets with the Iron Dome air-defense system, the Palestinians retain about 50 percent of their arsenal, and barrages targeted Israel’s south Monday morning, with another volley intercepted over Tel-Aviv.

Increasingly, Israeli officials speak of the need for a long-term demilitarization of Gaza after a cease-fire is reached. “This is something we will discuss with the international community,” Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told reporters over the phone. For now, however, the operation remains focused on the tunnels, she said.

There was no official comment on a report in the London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Arab on Monday claiming Israel recently bombed weapons earmarked for Hamas and stored in a warehouse in Sudan, north of Khartoum.

AFP Photo/ Said Khatib

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