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On Wednesday, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said Israel was “blocking” all attempts to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip, a day after the temporary ceasefire collapsed in the Palestinian enclave.
“Israel is blocking any kind of agreement leading to calm” in Gaza, Arabi told journalists.
“The Arab League wants to reach a permanent truce as soon as possible”, he said before leaving for Geneva to meet with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to demand for the protection of civilians in Gaza.
Eight days of peace in the region thanks to continual Egyptian efforts to broker a ceasefire was ended when violence exploded late on Tuesday as Israeli warplanes struck the Palestinian enclave, allegedly in retaliation for Hamas-launched rocket fire at Israel. Since the violence had resumed on Tuesday, at least twelve people have died in several Israeli airstrikes, spokesman for emergency services Ashraf al-Qudra said.
The violence erupted after Egyptian mediators pushed Palestinian and Israeli delegations to agree on a permanent truce before the midnight deadline ended at 21:00 GMT on Tuesday. The conflict has claimed 2,030 Palestinian lives so far, with UN figures suggesting that about 75% of the victims in the Palestinian enclave were civilians. After the truce deal ended, Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered back his delegation in Cairo.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev said, “The rocket fire which broke the ceasefire also destroyed the foundation on which the talks in Cairo were based.The Egyptian initiative is based on a total and unconditional cessation of hostilities, which was clearly broken when rockets were fired into Israel”.
Most Palestinian negotiators, including Azzam al-Ahmed, the head of the delegation, also left Cairo.
“We are leaving … but we have not pulled out of negotiations. We will not come back (to Cairo) until Israel responds”, he said.