Egypt late on Thursday called on the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip and Israel to "immediately" and "unconditionally" adopt a ceasefire initiative put forward by it on Monday, holding Israel responsible for protecting the lives of Gaza's civilians.
"We follow with deep concern the serious developments taking place on the Palestinian stage," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.
"We condemn the latest military escalation by Israel on the Gaza Strip," the ministry added in a statement.
It said the ceasefire initiative guarantees protection for the Palestinian people, being the only way for suspending aggressions and avoiding the shedding of Palestinian blood.
The Foreign Ministry called on all sides to practice maximum self-restraint by suspending attacks and avoiding any ground operations.
"These operations only make matters more tense and do not usher in security," the ministry said.
It said as an occupation force, Israel is legally responsible for protecting the lives of Palestinian civilians and suspending the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
The Foreign Ministry also called on the international community to quickly offer aid to the Palestinians of Gaza who have been suffering unrelenting Israeli attacks since July 7.
Cairo's initiative called on Israel to cease all hostilities in the Gaza Strip, halt all ground operations and refrain from targeting civilians, according to an Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement.
It also called on Palestinian resistance factions to cease hostilities against Israel, halt rocket fire and cross-border attacks and stop targeting civilians.
The overture further calls for reopening Gaza's closed border crossings and facilitating the movement of persons and goods in and out of the embattled coastal strip, "once the security situation becomes stable on the ground."
Israel initially accepted the ceasefire on Tuesday before resuming its air campaign hours later, citing the failure of Hamas and Islamic Jihad – two leading Palestinian resistance groups – to respond positively to Egypt's initiative.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad both rejected the Egyptian proposal, with the latter saying the terms of the deal failed to meet the basic aspirations of the Palestinian people and conditions set by the Palestinian resistance.
-Blame-
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri had earlier said that the ceasefire initiative aimed to protect the lives and the rights of the Palestinian people.
"If Hamas had accepted the initiative, the lives of at least 40 Palestinians would have been saved," Shoukri was quoted by the official Middle East News Agency as saying during a breakfast banquet with journalists on Thursday.
He accused Qatar, Turkey and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas of sabotaging Egypt's role, saying this role sought to prevent the breakup of some countries in the region.
Shoukri described his country's relations with Hamas as "highly tense" for reasons that have to do with Hamas' ideology.
"The problem is that Hamas' policies are strongly connected with an ideology that makes it difficult for it to agree with Egypt," Shoukri said.
"Even with this, Egypt deals with Hamas with the aim of protecting Palestinian rights," he added.
Since July 7, Israeli warplanes have pounded the strip with the ostensible aim of halting rocket fire from the Palestinian territory.
Gaza-based resistance factions, for their part, have continued to fire rockets at Israel – some of which have reached Tel Aviv – in response to the deadly airstrikes.
Israel's military operation, dubbed "Operation Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the embattled Gaza Strip – home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – in the last six years.
By Sameh Gad
englishnews@aa.com.tr
http://www.aa.com.tr/en
