Abbas pleads for Gaza ceasefire

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called on the Hamas leadership to avoid further bloodshed in Gaza by accepting a ceasefire. Speaking in Cairo, after talks with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarek, he said efforts so far have failed. “We have made direct and indirect contact with the Hamas leaders to renew the truce with Israel, but they have refused,” he said. “It has cost the lives of hundreds of Palestinians. If they had accepted we would have avoided these attacks.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Egypt was ready to accept Palestinian wounded, if Hamas allows them to cross. “We are waiting to receive the Palestinian wounded into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, but they are not being allowed to cross and that’s something you have to ask Hamas about.” Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian wounded have overwhelmed the Gaza Strip’s hospitals and clinics, with authorities saying they simply do not have the medical supplies or the resources to treat them.

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tags: Ceasefire, Egypt, Gaza