TEL AVIV — The death toll of Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip rose to 91 Monday, the local Health Ministry said, as shelling and airstrikes continued overnight and into the morning.
Hoping to avert an Israeli ground invasion, foreign leaders stepped up efforts to broker a cease-fire. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon traveled to Cairo, where he intended to “appeal personally for ending the violence,” a statement from his office said.
Graphic
How Israel's 'Iron Dome' missle defense works
WorldViews
Max Fisher
What will it take to break the cycles of self-perpetuating violence in one of the Middle East's most entrenched conflicts?
Max Fisher
Who gets more diplomatic pomp, does China get mentioned explicitly, and more.
Abigail Hauslohner
Residents said that Khan Younis is a safer place to be right now than Gaza City to the north and Rafaha stronghold of militant offshoots that even Hamas can't controlto the south.
David Nakamura
President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meet Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Egyptian officials sounded more optimistic Monday about a peace deal than they had in recent days, although there were still few signs that the Palestinian militant group Hamas or Israeli authorities were giving way in the conflict.
“Negotiations are going on as we speak, and I hope we will reach something soon that will stop this violence and counterviolence,” Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil said at a conference in Cairo, Reuters news agency reported. “I think we are close,” but “it is very difficult to predict,” he said.
Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshal appeared defiant at a Monday news conference in Cairo, appearing to give little ground to Israeli demands for an end to rocket attacks from Gaza and saying that fighters’ morale in Gaza “is sky high.” He said Israel has asked for a truce, a claim quickly denied by Israeli officials. Meshal said a truce was “possible” but that so was an escalation.
Israel must stop its offensive first and end its blockade on Gaza, Meshal said. If there is to be long-term peace, he said, the Israelis must agree to broader Palestinian demands.
“All options are possible,” he said. The outcome “depends on Israel.”
Meshal said he met with Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate on Monday. A senior Egyptian official said the intelligence services retained contacts with the Israeli government that were forged under the rule of Hosni Mubarak and were passing along Israeli messages in the Cairo negotiations.
Meanwhile, Egypt dispatched Saad al-Katany, the chief of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party, to lead a delegation to the Gaza Strip on Monday in a show of solidarity for Palestinians living in the besieged enclave.
The Israeli military said in a statement Monday that it struck 80 “terror sites” overnight throughout Gaza, “inflicting severe damage to the rocket-launching capabilities” of militant groups in the Palestinian territory.
Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Sunday killed at least 10 members of one family, including a mother and her four children, and struck two buildings used by journalists, inflicting the heaviest toll on civilians since fighting began Wednesday.
Militants in Gaza continued to lob dozens of rounds toward Israel, including two powerful rockets that burst over Tel Aviv on Sunday after Israel’s antimissile system intercepted them in midair.
With little apparent progress in cease-fire negotiations in Cairo, British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that Israel would lose support from the international community if it followed through on threats to deploy troops in Gaza. President Obama, at the start of a three-day trip to Southeast Asia, reiterated U.S. support for Israel’s right of self-defense but said he was hopeful that the fighting could end through diplomacy.
Hoping to avert an Israeli ground invasion, foreign leaders stepped up efforts to broker a cease-fire. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon traveled to Cairo, where he intended to “appeal personally for ending the violence,” a statement from his office said.
Graphic
How Israel's 'Iron Dome' missle defense works
WorldViews
Max Fisher What will it take to break the cycles of self-perpetuating violence in one of the Middle East's most entrenched conflicts?
Max Fisher Who gets more diplomatic pomp, does China get mentioned explicitly, and more.
Abigail Hauslohner
Residents said that Khan Younis is a safer place to be right now than Gaza City to the north and Rafaha stronghold of militant offshoots that even Hamas can't controlto the south.
David Nakamura President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meet Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Egyptian officials sounded more optimistic Monday about a peace deal than they had in recent days, although there were still few signs that the Palestinian militant group Hamas or Israeli authorities were giving way in the conflict.
“Negotiations are going on as we speak, and I hope we will reach something soon that will stop this violence and counterviolence,” Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil said at a conference in Cairo, Reuters news agency reported. “I think we are close,” but “it is very difficult to predict,” he said.
Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshal appeared defiant at a Monday news conference in Cairo, appearing to give little ground to Israeli demands for an end to rocket attacks from Gaza and saying that fighters’ morale in Gaza “is sky high.” He said Israel has asked for a truce, a claim quickly denied by Israeli officials. Meshal said a truce was “possible” but that so was an escalation.
Israel must stop its offensive first and end its blockade on Gaza, Meshal said. If there is to be long-term peace, he said, the Israelis must agree to broader Palestinian demands.
“All options are possible,” he said. The outcome “depends on Israel.”
Meshal said he met with Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate on Monday. A senior Egyptian official said the intelligence services retained contacts with the Israeli government that were forged under the rule of Hosni Mubarak and were passing along Israeli messages in the Cairo negotiations.
Meanwhile, Egypt dispatched Saad al-Katany, the chief of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party, to lead a delegation to the Gaza Strip on Monday in a show of solidarity for Palestinians living in the besieged enclave.
The Israeli military said in a statement Monday that it struck 80 “terror sites” overnight throughout Gaza, “inflicting severe damage to the rocket-launching capabilities” of militant groups in the Palestinian territory.
Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Sunday killed at least 10 members of one family, including a mother and her four children, and struck two buildings used by journalists, inflicting the heaviest toll on civilians since fighting began Wednesday.
Militants in Gaza continued to lob dozens of rounds toward Israel, including two powerful rockets that burst over Tel Aviv on Sunday after Israel’s antimissile system intercepted them in midair.
With little apparent progress in cease-fire negotiations in Cairo, British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that Israel would lose support from the international community if it followed through on threats to deploy troops in Gaza. President Obama, at the start of a three-day trip to Southeast Asia, reiterated U.S. support for Israel’s right of self-defense but said he was hopeful that the fighting could end through diplomacy.