BREAKING: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seeks peace talks with Israel to resume in Cairo as soon as possible; Egypt to invite delegates to resume Gaza truce talk

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seeks peace talks with Israel to resume in Cairo as soon as possible. Egypt to invite delegates to resume Gaza truce talk!

Abbass said peace talk with Israel should resume as soon as possible. Israel kept up the pressure on Hamas in Gaza on Saturday, carrying out multiple air strikes that killed six Palestinians, five of them from the same family, as Egypt prepared to convene new truce talks.

Eighty-three Palestinians and a four-year-old Israeli boy been killed since Tuesday, when a previous round of frantic Egyptian diplomacy collapsed, shattering nine days of calm.

"Egypt is going to invite delegates to return to the negotiating table to consider a long-term truce," Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said after talks with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

"What interests us now is putting a stop to the bloodshed," Abbas said.

BREAKING: Israel has begun withdrawing some troops from Gaza: army spokesman

BREAKING: At least 11 killed in strike on UN school in Gaza, Palestinian medics say

Israel has begun withdrawing some troops from Gaza. Israeli army spokesperson said Sunday some troops had begun withdrawing as operations against Hamas continue.  "We are removing some (forces), we are changing from within," Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said, saying it as "an ongoing mission". 

"We are redeploying within the Gaza Strip and taking out other different positions, and relieving other forces from within, so it won't be the same type of ground operation," he told AFP. "But indeed we will continue to operate ... (and) have a rapid reaction force on the ground that can engage Hamas if required," he added.

These remarks follow yesterday’s indications that operations in Gaza were coming to an end after the army informed citizens of Beit Lahiya and Al-Atatra in the north that it was "safe" to return home.

BREAKING: Israel to expand Gaza ground offensive says army; Abbas, Meshaal to meet Sunday to discuss Gaza truce

*An Ongoing Clash Between Hamas Gunmen and Israeli troops on the Lebanese border with Palestine!

*2 More Israeli Soldiers Were Killed In Gaza In Two Separate Incidents Overnight Saturday

Israeli army says it will expand Gaza ground offensive as the bloodiest conflict since 2009 entered its 13th day with a death toll of over 350. 

"This evening, the ground phase of Operation Protective Edge expands, as additional forces join the effort to combat terror in the Gaza Strip and establish a reality in which Israeli residents can live in safety and security," the army said in a statement.

Two more Israeli soldiers killed Saturday, bringing the total number of IDF fatalities to 5 since ground offensive began Thursday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to meet Sunday to discuss Gaza truce, officials say.

Also President Mahmoud Abbas and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will meet on Sunday to try to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel to bring an end to 12 days of warfare, a senior Qatari source told Reuters. Due to take place in Doha, the meeting will be headed by the Gulf state's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who has been acting as a "channel of communication" between Hamas and the international community, said the senior source familiar with the matter.

GAZA CONFLICT UPDATES: Comprehensive ceasefire not true

The official who leaked reports of a "comprehensive ceasefire" agreement now seems to rowing back slightly. Reuters reports:

An Israeli official said on Thursday that Israeli senior representatives at talks in Cairo had accepted an Egyptian proposal for a comprehensive Gaza ceasefire starting on Friday, but Israel's leaders still had to approve the deal.


The official, who earlier said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision-making security cabinet had agreed to the truce, later told Reuters the forum had not yet voted and was still examining its details.


In Gaza, there was no immediate comment from Hamas or other Palestinian groups on whether they had accepted a permanent ceasefire to end warfare now in its 10th day.

Also Rocket sirens in Israel have marked the end of the acclaimed humanitarian truce, and the bombardment of Gaza has also resumed. Exactly at the end moment of the ceasefire that never really happened, there is a siren in Ashkelon region.

Israeli, Hamas Conflicts: Scepticism about reports of ceasefire agreement

Today's humanitarian truce, which was largely observed despite the exchange of mortar fire, is not expected to last.

Israel's prime minister has signalled that Israel will resume bombardment of Gaza when the five-hour truce expires in the next few minutes. PM Netanyahu has rejected request of extending current ceasefire, and said Israeli air force to react as soon temporarily ceasefire ends.

BREAKING NEWS: Rockets fired from Gaza into Israel amid ceasefire, Israeli army says

Rockets fired from Gaza into Israel amid ceasefire, Israeli army says.

Israel and Hamas agree new ceasefire to begin Friday, Israeli official says.

Reports has that Mortars was fired from Gaza during humanitarian cease-fire.

Tony Blair wants Cairo to mediate Israeli-Hamas' Gaza violence

Cairo (AFP) - Egyptian government, under new President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has adopted a hands-off approach towards the conflict in Gaza amid deteriorating ties with Hamas. Mideast Quartet envoy Tony Blair arrived in Cairo Saturday for talks on ending the violence in Gaza, where Israeli air raids have killed more than 155 Palestinians this week, officials said.

Blair, who represents the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States, will hold talks with Egyptian officials to press for an end to the c

Despite international concern, truce efforts have been unsuccessful, according to Egypt, which had been key in mediating previous ceasefires between Hamas and Israel.

Yahoo

Wipe out all the Zionists: Hamas taunts Israel with battle song in Hebrew

Hamas has posted a Hebrew version of one of its battle songs in the latest act of psychological warfare accompanying the physical conflict with Israel.

The original Arabic version of “Shake Israel’s Security” has long been a popular anthem of the Islamist movement’s military wing, the Ezz Al Deen Al Qassam Brigades.

Now the Hebrew translation is on the brigades’ YouTube site, proclaiming to a dramatic orchestral accompaniment: “Wipe out all the Zionists...burn soldiers and their bases.”

“Exterminate the cockroach nest, expel all the Zionists,” it exhorts.

Israel and Hamas have since Tuesday been locked in a spiralling war across the border between southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has its power base.

Israeli warning: Thousands of Gaza civilians flee; Protest outside Israel embassy in Delhi in solidarity with Gaza

GROUND INVASION OPTION!

(Yahoo) - Thousands fled their homes in a Gaza town on Sunday after Israel warned them to leave ahead of threatened attacks on rocket-launching sites, on the sixth day of an offensive that Palestinian officials said has killed at least 160 people.

"Those who fail to comply with the instructions will endanger their lives and the lives of their families. Beware," read a leaflet dropped by the Israeli military in the town of Beit Lahiya, near the border with Israel.

Militants in the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip kept up rockets salvoes deep into the Jewish state and the worst bout of Israel-Palestinian bloodshed in two years showed no signs of abating despite mounting international pressure to cease fire.

Pope to lead Israeli-Palestinian peace prayer

Pope Francis is scheduled to host a peace prayer with the Israeli and Palestinian presidents in a move aimed at bringing the two peoples together. Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, will lead prayers on Sunday at the Vatican with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres in a gesture aimed at fostering dialogue.

“This prayer meeting will not be for mediation or to find solutions. We are just meeting up to pray. Then everyone goes home,” Francis said after issuing the invitations during a pilgrimage to the Middle East last month.