On the fourteenth day of Operation Protective Edge, Hamas continues to fire rockets at Israel. At around 11:40 this morning sirens were sounded in Gush Dan, Ashdod, Ashkelon and other parts of the country as a salvo of rockets came in from the Gaza Strip. The Iron Dome system intercepted two rockets over Gush Dan. There are no reports of casualties.
This afternoon, Channel 2 News reported a list of demands published by Hamas as a condition for a cease-fire. Among other things, the organization demands a complete cessation of all IDF military activity, removal of the blockade on the Gaza Strip, an end to collective action against Palestinians on the West Bank (this mainly refers to Hamas activists arrested during the operation to find the three Israeli teenagers who were abducted and killed in June), and an easing of restrictions on development in the Gaza Strip.
UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, who called Israel's bombardment of the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza “atrocious,” is reportedly leading a new initiative together with EU countries to bring about a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. This initiative, based on the Egyptian cease-fire proposals, calls for guarantees for the opening of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, with Palestinian Authority forces stationed there, and for relaxations on the import of goods into the Gaza Strip via Israeli crossings.
Ban is expected in Israel tomorrow to promote the initiative, after meeting Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. The UN Secretary general is due in Egypt today to meet Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the same time as US secretary of state John Kerry is due to arrive there. US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said today that the US and its international partners were “deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation, and the loss of more innocent life.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 21, 2014
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