Story by the Associated Press; curated by Oliver Darcy.
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Palestinian United Nations envoy says he hopes "a very intensive negotiation" in Cairo might produce a cease-fire "in the hours to come" between Israel and Hamas.
[sharequote align="center"]"a very intensive negotiation"[/sharequote]
Ambassador Riyad Mansour said in an interview with The Associated Press soon after Israel was reported to have launched a ground invasion into Gaza late Thursday that it "would increase and compound the number of casualties to a very exponential level."
Israeli soldiers work on their tanks at a staging area near the Israel-Gaza Border, Wednesday, July 9, 2014. The government has authorized the army to activate up to 40,000 reservists for a ground operation.(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
He said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with leaders from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Egypt and other many others and he understood that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was on his way to Egypt.
"We hope that an agreement and cease-fire to take place as quickly as possible before shedding the blood of one additional single Palestinian soul," Mansour said.
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