|
 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held talks in neighboring
Egypt, while U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was due to arrive in
Israel later in the day. Both have voiced alarm at mounting civilian
casualties.
However, there was no let-up in the fighting around Gaza, with
plumes of black smoke spiraling into the sky, and Israeli shells
raining down on the coastal Palestinian enclave.
Hamas, the dominant group in the Gaza Strip, and its allies fired
more rockets into Israel, triggering sirens in Tel Aviv. One hit a
town on the fringes of Ben-Gurion International Airport, lightly
injuring two people, officials said.
Israel launched its offensive on July 8 to halt missile salvoes out
of Gaza by Hamas, which was angered by a crackdown on its supporters
in the occupied West Bank and suffering economic hardship because of
an Israeli-Egyptian blockade.
"A ceasefire is not near," said Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, viewed
as the most dovish member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's inner security cabinet.
"I see no light at the end of the tunnel," she told Israel's Army
Radio.
The Israeli military said it had identified the remains of six
soldiers killed in an attack on their armored vehicle in Gaza on
Sunday and was trying to identify the seventh.
Sparking widespread celebrations in Gaza, Hamas's armed wing
announced on Sunday that it had captured a soldier. It displayed a
photo ID and army serial number of the man, but did not show any
image of him in their hands.
The Israeli military believes it was impossible for anyone to have
survived the direct hit on the army APC.
Israel has agreed to mass releases of Palestinian prisoners in the
past to secure the freedom of captured soldiers, or even for the
return of the bodies of its citizens.
With the conflict entering its third week, the Palestinian death
toll rose to 546, including nearly 100 children and many other
civilians, Gaza health officials said.
The Israeli military said it had killed 183 militants.
Israel's casualties also mounted, with the military announcing the
deaths of two more soldiers, bringing the number of army fatalities
to 27 - almost three times as many as were killed in the last ground
invasion of Gaza, in a 2008-2009 war.
Two Israeli civilians have also been killed by Palestinian rocket
fire into Israel.
Palestinian militants in Gaza said they wanted a five-hour ceasefire
on Tuesday to allow residents to emerge from their homes and seek
vital supplies. Israel rejected the request for security reasons, a
defense official said.
Violence spread to the nearby West Bank, where medics said soldiers
shot dead a Palestinian man while dispersing stone-throwing
protesters. A Palestinian shot and seriously wounded an Israeli in
the Nablus area on Tuesday.
DIPLOMACY
Dispatched by U.S. President Barack Obama to the Middle East to seek
a ceasefire, Kerry held talks on Tuesday in Cairo with Egyptian
Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri.
Egypt was key to securing an end to a previous bout of Gaza fighting
in 2012, but the country's new leadership is openly hostile to
Hamas, potentially complicating the negotiations.
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"We hope (Kerry's) visit will result in a ceasefire that provides
the necessary security for the Palestinian people and that we can
commence to address the medium and long-term issues related to
Gaza," Shukri said.
Israel has signaled it is in no hurry to achieve a truce before
reaching its goal of crippling Hamas's militant infrastructure,
including rocket arsenals and networks of tunnels threatening
Israelis living along the Gaza frontier.
Hamas has said it will not cease hostilities until its demands are
met, including that Israel and Egypt lift their blockade of Gaza and
its 1.8 million people, and that Israel release several hundred
Palestinians detained during a search last month for three Jewish
teenagers later found dead.
Israel blamed the killings on Hamas, and their deaths, along with
the revenge slaying of a Palestinian teen were factors in a flare-up
of violence along the Israel-Gaza border last month that escalated
into the current fighting.
"The world must understand that Gaza has decided to end the blockade
by its blood and its heroism," deputy Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
said in a televised address on Monday.
Livni said the Hamas demands were unacceptable to both Israel and
Egypt.
Kerry said the United States would provide $47 million in
humanitarian aid for Gaza. Washington is "deeply concerned about the
consequences of Israel's appropriate and legitimate effort to defend
itself," Kerry said. "No country can stand by when rockets are
attacking it."
Kerry plans to stay in Cairo until Wednesday morning but has no set
departure date from the region. Officials said he might travel to
Qatar, a Gulf state which has relatively close ties to Hamas and
hosts its leader, Khaled Meshaal.
Ban was due to meet Netanyahu later on Tuesday in Tel Aviv and then
see the Palestinian prime minister in the West Bank.
With Israeli shells and bombs hitting Gaza day and night, thousands
of people have fled districts close to the border.
The main U.N. agency in Gaza, UNWRA, said almost 102,000 people had
taken shelter in 69 of its schools.
(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Gaza, Arshad Mohammed,
Shadia Nasralla in Cairo and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Writing by
Maayan Lubell and Crispian Balmer; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and
Giles Elgood)
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