Israel, Palestinians Facing End of Gaza Cease-fire
by VOA News August 18, 2014
Israel and the Palestinians are facing the end of the latest Gaza cease-fire as they meet in Cairo to try to agree on a lasting truce.
The latest cease-fire between the warring sides ends at midnight Monday (2100 GMT, 5 p.m. EDT). There is no indication that negotiators are close to reaching a deal to stop more than a month of fighting between Hamas, which runs the coastal enclave along the Mediterranean and the Jewish state.
Egyptian mediators have been conducting indirect negotiations, carrying truce proposals back and forth between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Israel has refused direct talks because the Palestinian delegation includes Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group.
The gap between Israel and the Palestinians remains wide, with Israel demanding the disarming of Hamas and an end to its cross-border rocket attacks. The Palestinians are calling for the end of Israel's eight-year blockade of impoverished Gaza.
The five weeks of fighting has left more than 2,000 Palestinians, most of them Gaza civilians, and 67 Israelis soldiers dead. It has also left Gaza neighborhoods in rubble from Israeli airstrikes. Norway announced that once a lasting truce is reached, it would host a conference with Egypt to look for international donors to rebuild Gaza.
While the cease-fire negotiations continued, Israeli troops demolished the homes of two Palestinians suspected in the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in June, which helped sparked the Gaza warfare.
The army said it demolished the homes Monday and sealed off the home of a third suspect.
One of the men, Hussam Kawasma, was taken into custody in July, while the other two remain at large.
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