CAIRO
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday held separate meetings with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukri and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo to discuss an Egyptian proposal for ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.
"Talks between Kerry and Shoukri focused on the developments in Gaza and the possibilities of implementing Cairo's ceasefire proposal," an Egyptian diplomatic source told Anadolu Agency.
Shoukri told reporters after the meeting that Cairo had no plans to amend the initiative it had tabled last week for ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The proposal, initially accepted by Israel, was turned down by Gaza's prominent Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements who said they were never consulted about the terms of the plan.
The initiative called on Israel to cease all hostilities in the Gaza Strip, halt all ground operations and refrain from targeting civilians.
It also called on Palestinian factions to cease hostilities against Israel, halt rocket fire and cross-border attacks and stop targeting civilians.
The overture further called 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.
Kerry, who arrived in Cairo Monday night, later met with al-Arabi who called for reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, which has reeled under a wide-scale Israeli military offensive that left at least 583 Palestinians - mostly civilians - dead since July 7.
Washington's top diplomat is expected to meet later Tuesday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to discuss means of bringing about a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
He is also expected to meet U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who is on a visit to the Egyptian capital to discuss the ongoing conflict in the embattled Gaza Strip.
U.S. White House Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday that Kerry is "working to support" Egypt's truce bid in order to reach a ceasefire that would restore a November 2012 truce deal between Israel and Palestinian factions brokered by Cairo under ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Egypt, which shares a border with both the Gaza Strip and Israel, has been a traditional mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.
But its relations with Hamas have deteriorated since the army's ouster of elected Islamist president Morsi last July.
Earlier this year, an Egyptian court banned the activities of Hamas, an ideological offshoot of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.
The Israeli army confirmed that 27 of its troops have been killed in battles with Palestinian fighters since Israel sent thousands of its troops into Gaza last week.
Israel's military operation, dubbed "Operation Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populated Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.
By Mohamed Hendawi
www.aa.com.tr/en
