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ISRAELI WARPLANES KEPT up deadly raids on Gaza overnight but failed to stop Palestinian militants firing rockets across the border, as the United States offered to help negotiate a truce.
With the violence growing worse, US President Barack Obama in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government was willing to broker a ceasefire.
Obama said he was concerned the fighting could escalate and “called for all sides to do everything they can to protect the lives of civilians”, the White House said.
“The United States remains prepared to facilitate a cessation of hostilities, including a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement.”
The 2012 deal, brokered by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Egypt, ended eight days of Israeli airstrikes on Hamas targets in a previous showdown.
Appeals for an immediate truce also came from UN chief Ban Ki-moon at an emergency meeting Thursday of the Security Council, saying a ceasefire was “more urgent than ever”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a similar plea in a phone call to Netanyahu, urging an immediate end to the bloodshed and expressing concern over civilian casualties.
But Israel appeared bent on dealing a fatal blow to the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls Gaza, with Netanyahu reportedly saying talk of a ceasefire was “not even on the agenda”.
Israeli air strikes killed more than 30 Palestinians on Thursday alone, many of them women and children.
Hamas, the Palestinian group ruling Gaza, also appeared to have no interest in letting up, striking deep inside Israel over the past 48 hours, with rockets crashing down near Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and even as far away as Hadera, 116 kilometres (72 miles) to the north.
Senior Hamas member and the movement’s former Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniya ruled out any backing down by the Islamist movement.
“The enemy (Israel) is the one that started this aggression and it must stop, because we are (simply) defending ourselves,” Haniya said in a statement early today.
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Its Mandela’s day. May he rest in peace. And for one day the world is united.
Would Enda spend 27 years in jail for the rights of the Irish people’s rights
If he stayed at home it would be a start.
There are plenty of other articles to whinge about Enda, Gilmore, the government, the banks and life in general.
So get off this one!
May he rest in peace.
The crowds are probably singing their favorite chant ‘Kill the Boers’ and the foreign dignitaries don’t understand their language…so for them it’s a ‘beautiful chant’.
That song is no worse than Irish people continuing to sing Amhrán na bhFiann – the full version of which has lyrics concerning taking up arms against our “Saxon foe”. The fact is that when we sing it nowadays, we are NOT making a call to arms against any oppressor, we are just paying homage to our past and our country’s origins.
I think the point is, whatever they may sing, they did NOT kill the Boers. Get it?
I see Gilmore will be there…Raul Castro will also be contributing an eulogy to Mandela so all the former Stickies should be proud when one of their Commie buddies takes to the stand
Yawn.
I’m surprised there is a lot of empty seats there
#madiba
Just seen Obamas speech .. in one word…it was epic .
Do they have no respect people on phones and talking joke
have your say