More deaths in Gaza as Egypt calls for truce

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Aug 23, (AFP) - Israel kept up the pressure on Hamas in Gaza today, with scores of air strikes killing nine Palestinians, mostly women and children, as Egypt urged a truce and new talks.

Since a previous round of frantic Egyptian diplomacy collapsed last Tuesday, shattering nine days of calm, 85 Palestinians and a four-year-old Israeli boy have been killed in the violence.

Egypt's foreign ministry called for “concerned parties to accept a ceasefire of unlimited duration and to resume indirect negotia- tions in Cairo”.

Israel was yet to respond to Egypt's call, while Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP that “any proposal offered to the movement will be discussed”.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said that “what interests us now is putting a stop to the bloodshed”.

“As soon as a ceasefire goes into effect, the two sides can sit down and discuss their demands,” he said after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al- Sisi.

Abbas's meeting with Sisi came after he held two rounds of talks in Qatar on Thursday and Friday with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, whose Islamist movement is the de facto ruler of Gaza.

Israel has vowed no let-up until it can guarantee the safety of its civilians, while Hamas insists that Israel must end its eight-year blockade of the territory as part of any truce.

At least 2,102 Palestinians and 68 people on the Israeli side, all but four of them soldiers, have been killed since July 8. The UN says 70 percent of the Palestinians who have died were civilians.