Middle East Egypt calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire Egypt urges Israel and Palestinians to accept

[bemildred]

Egypt has called on Israel and the Palestinians to accept an indefinite ceasefire and resume indirect talks in Cairo to end the Gaza crisis, Egypt's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry on Saturday called for "concerned parties to accept a ceasefire of unlimited duration and to resume indirect negotiations in Cairo".

Earlier, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had met his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, to discuss the conflict that has killed more than 2,000 people.

A previous round of truce talks collapsed on Tuesday, shattering nine days of calm, as the deadly six-week conflict between Israel and Hamas resumed.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/gaza-ceasefire-2014823124231314980.html

[bemildred]

1. Europe launches fresh UN bid to end Gaza conflict

Britain, France and Germany have launched a fresh bid at the UN to end six weeks of violence in Gaza, after Israeli warplanes killed three top Hamas commanders, inflicting a heavy blow on the movement's armed wing.

The European initiative on Thursday came as fighting flared on the ground and an Egyptian-led effort to broker peace talks teetered on the verge of collapse.

The three countries urged an immediate and sustainable ceasefire that would put an end to the firing of rockets and military operations in the Gaza Strip.

It calls for a lifting of the Israeli blockade and a monitoring mechanism to report on ceasefire violations and verify the flow of goods into the Gaza Strip.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67754

[bemildred]

2. Boy killed in Israeli airstrike on central Gaza

GAZA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- An 8-year-old boy was killed and three others wounded in a fresh Israeli airstrike on Saturday afternoon on a house in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, the health ministry spokesman in Gaza told reporters that Hussein Ahmed was killed and three other civilians were inured in an Israeli airstrike on the central Gaza Strip town of Deit el-Ballah.

Al-Qedra said that the death toll on Saturday reached nine, most of them children, while more than 20 were wounded in a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Saturday, five family members, including a 47-year- old woman and two other men were killed and 10 injured in an airstrike on al-Zawayda town near the central Gaza Strip town of Deir el-Ballah.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-08/23/c_133578865.htm

[bemildred]

3. Netanyahu modern Herod: Venezuela leader

Venezuela's president has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "modern Herod," and proposed to take care of Palestinian children orphaned by the conflict in Gaza.

Nicolas Maduro alleged that "500 boys and girls have died and more than 3000 have been crippled" during the Israeli offensive.

"Netanyahu is a modern Herod. He wants to eliminate all the children of Palestine," he said in a speech on Friday.

Herod was a king of ancient Judea who allegedly ordered the massacre of infant boys in Bethlehem to prevent the rise of a messiah to challenge his reign, according to one story in the New Testament.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/08/23/netanyahu-modern-herod-venezuela-leader

[bemildred]

4. Israeli airstrike collapses Gaza apartment tower

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Witnesses say an Israeli airstrike has collapsed a 12-story apartment tower in central Gaza City.

Gaza police say Israeli aircraft fired a warning missile at the roof of the tower at dusk Saturday, followed five minutes later by two missiles with explosives.

The blast sent a huge ball of fire and a black cloud of smoke into the air. The explosions shook neighboring buildings.

Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra says at least 10 people, including four children, were wounded.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_ISRAEL_PALESTINIANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-08-23-12-49-34