As Hamas rocket fire into Israel continued Thursday the European Union and the US pushed for a United Nations Security Council resolution to end the fighting. Israel responded with air strikes on several terror targets.
On Thursday, Hamas launched more than 100 rockets at Israel, according to the Times of Israel, injuring one civilian. After a night without rockets, Hamas rocket fire resumed Friday, injuring one person in Beersheva.
Israeli airstrikes killed three senior Hamas commanders killed overnight Wednesday.
Sixty-seven Israelis and more than 2,000 Palestinians have died thus far in the conflict, which began in July.
Hamas also executed 11 people in Gaza Friday after convicting them of collaborating with Israel.
In the midst of the clashes, the United States and European Union are pushing the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution instituting a cease-fire. A draft document circulated among diplomats called for the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza, the reopening of Gaza’s ports and border crossings, an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza and a halt to all weapons sales and transfers into the coastal strip.
Apparently, the suggestion began as a European initiative after ceasefire talks in Cairo collapsed when Hamas breached a truce on Tuesday. The initiative reportedly received the backing of the United States as well. A UN Security Council resolution is considered binding and indeed such a declaration was instrumental in bringing the Second Lebanon War to an end in 2006.
According to Haaretz, a draft was circulated to diplomats after Israeli officials had been briefed on its contents. The report says that a leaked draft calls for an “immediate, sustainable” ceasefire. It proposes that the Palestinian Authority (PA) be handed control of the Gaza Strip, including the provision that it would be the only authority to approve the supply of weapons and munitions in Gaza. Meanwhile, Gaza’s border crossings would be opened and monitored by the European Union.
Daily Haaretz newspaper said that the final paragraph of the draft calls for “renewed and urgent efforts” to “to resume the negotiations in order to achieve a comprehensive peace based on the vision of two democratic States, Palestine and Israel, living side by side on the basis of the pre-1967 borders in peace and security.”
However, Associated Press said that UN diplomats do not want a potential Security Council resolution to in any way undermine Egyptian efforts in brokering a long-lasting ceasefire. The indirect talks between Israeli and Palestinian delegations in Cairo collapsed this week, but Haaretz quoted an unnamed Israeli official who said “Israel is currently pursuing the path of the Egyptian mediation … The end of the operation, we believe, must go through Cairo.”
Meanwhile, Israel Radio news quoted a member of the Palestinian delegation Friday morning who estimated that the talks in Cairo will resume next week.
The document calls for an international force to monitor Gaza to ensure that Hamas does not rearm or build tunnels. The document also calls for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks based on Israel’s pre-1967 borders.
Israeli and Palestinian officials, according to the Times of Israel, said ceasefire talks in Cairo could resume. The indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian delegation broke down along with a string of temporary truces after the rocket fire Tuesday.