Abbas: I'm ready to negotiate a truce between Israel, Hamas [View All]

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he was ready to mediate a truce between Israel and the Islamic Hamas movement, after five days of fierce fighting in the Gaza Strip and intensified rocket attacks from the Strip into southern Israel.

"President Abbas renewed his readiness to work for a full and mutual calm with Israel to spare our people and to avoid suffering," a statement carried on the official Palestinian Wafa news agency said.

Abbas called on Israel "to accept this initiative." The Palestinian leader froze peace talks with Israel in the wake of the latest round of violence, which left more than 100 Palestinians and two Israel Defense Forces soldiers dead, and began last Wednesday, when Israel killed five Hamas militants it said were planning an attack.

Militant groups in the Gaza Strip responded by intensifying rocket attacks on Israeli towns and communities near the Gaza border, including launching Iranian Grad-type rockets at the coastal town of Ashkelon, hitherto only a sporadic target of rocket fire.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/960370.html