Israel, Hamas considering Egypt’s cease-fire proposal

JERUSALEM – Egypt on Monday proposed a cease-fire to end a weeklong Israeli offensive against Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip that has triggered volleys of rocket fire at Israeli cities and left more than 180 Palestinians dead, many of them civilians.

According to the Egyptian proposal, a cease-fire between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas and allied factions in Gaza would take effect 12 hours from its “unconditional acceptance” by the sides this morning.

That would be followed by the opening of border crossings to Gaza and indirect negotiations in Cairo within 48 hours, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.

The proposal came ahead of a planned visit to Egypt today by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

At a Ramadan dinner at the White House, President Barack Obama said the United States was “encouraged” by the Egyptian proposal. But while he called the deaths of Palestinian civilians “a tragedy,” he gave no indication that the U.S. was pressing Israel to end the airstrikes.

“We’ve been very clear that Israel has the right to defend itself against what I consider inexcusable attacks from Hamas,” he said.

The Israeli Security Cabinet was due to meet early today to discuss the proposal, and Israeli news reports said it was likely to accept the plan.

Hamas officials had no immediate response, but Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader in Gaza, said in a broadcast speech that there had been “diplomatic movement,” and that his group was seeking an end to border closures imposed by Israel and Egypt on the coastal enclave.

Hamas officials had insisted that they would agree to a cease-fire only if border closures were lifted and former prisoners rearrested by Israel in a crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank last month would be freed. The men were detained after the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, which Israel blamed on Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the goals of the Israeli campaign were to deliver a heavy blow to Hamas while halting rocket attacks from Gaza for an extended period of time.

With Palestinians counting at least 185 dead and more than 1,300 wounded in seven days of fierce Israeli bombardments from land, sea and air, United Nations officials accused the Israeli military on Monday of failing to take adequate measures to prevent civilian casualties.