Kerry cites 'progress' in Gaza truce talks

US lifts flight ban over Tel Aviv, but Palestinian death toll passes 730

US airlines lifted a flight ban to Israel on Thursday as Washington's top diplomat cited progress in ending bloodshed in Gaza that has killed more than 730 Palestinians.

The ban was lifted just hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah and returned to Cairo to continue pushing regional efforts to ink a cease-fire.

The US national aviation agency had imposed the restriction on Tuesday after a rocket hit a house very close to Israel's airport, in a move mirrored by Europe.

It was renewed late on Wednesday, prompting Hamas to hail the suspension of Tel Aviv flights as a "great victory for the resistance".

Shortly afterward, the US agency rescinded the move.

"The FAA has lifted its restrictions on US airline flights into and out of Israel's Ben Gurion Airport," it said, while warning the situation was still "very fluid". There was no immediate word on whether European airlines would follow suit.

As truce efforts mounted, Hamas' exiled leader Khaled Meshaal vowed there would be no end to the fighting without the lifting of Israel's eight-year blockade on Gaza.

"We will not accept any initiative that does not lift the blockade on our people and that does not respect their sacrifices," he said.

Despite Hamas' intransigence, the skies over southern Israel remained quiet for seven hours, Israeli army said, in what was the calmest night since the Israeli operation began on July 8. Since 5 am, just three mortars had struck the south, a spokeswoman said.

But fighting continued in Gaza, with more than 30 people killed since midnight, mostly in the south, hiking the overall Palestinian toll to over 730, with rights groups saying more than 80 percent of them were civilians.

Most of the victims were killed in and around Khuzaa, a flashpoint area east of Khan Yunis that has been the site of intensive fighting since Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Red Cross managed to evacuate 150 people from the area following negotiations with both sides, and another convoy of 10 ambulances entered the area on Thursday, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

The Red Cross also negotiated the evacuation on Wednesday of another 70 people from the northern town of Beit Hanun and a third group from Shejaiya near Gaza City, including an entire family of 11.

US, UN pool efforts

As Kerry and UN chief Ban Ki-moon held talks in Jerusalem on Wednesday, they said they had pooled their efforts in the hope of boosting the quest for a truce.

"We have in the last 24 hours made some progress in moving toward that goal," Kerry said as he met President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, before heading to Tel Aviv for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The men met for about two hours but made no statements after their talks. Kerry then left for Cairo and Netanyahu opened a meeting of his security cabinet.

Britain also joined the truce efforts with new Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond holding late-night talks with Abbas, saying a cease-fire was not enough.

Ban also brought up the Gaza conflict in a meeting with Saudi King Abdullah in Jeddah, according to the official SPA news agency.

Thirty-two Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting and three civilians have died in Israel when struck by projectiles fired from Gaza.

AP-AFP

(China Daily 07/25/2014 page11)