Israel, Hamas present truce ideas but escalation threat
remains
111 Palestinians, 3 Israelis have been killed in
recent clashes
The Associated Press Posted: Nov 19, 2012 3:13 AM
ET Last Updated: Nov 19, 2012 10:17 PM ET


Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers traded fire and tough
ceasefire proposals Monday, and threatened to escalate their border conflict if diplomacy fails. No deal appeared near.
An Israeli airstrike targeting a Gaza media centre killed a senior militant and engulfed the building in flames, while Gaza fighters fired 95 rockets at Israel, nearly one-third of them intercepted by an Israeli missile shield.
A total of 38 Palestinians were killed Monday. Two more Palestinians were killed in airstrikes past midnight, bringing the death toll since the start of Israel's offensive to 111, including 56 civilians. Some 840 people have been wounded, including 225 children, Gaza heath officials said. Three Israeli civilians have been killed and dozens have been wounded.Over the weekend, civilian casualties in Gaza rose sharply after Israel began targeting the homes of what it said were suspected militants. Two such strikes late Monday killed five people – a father and his 4-year-old twin sons in northern Gaza and two people in the south, medics said.
Jamal Daloo, who lost his wife,a son, four grandchildren and five other members of his family in an attack Sunday,sat in quiet mourning Monday next to the ruins of his home, his face streaked with tears.
"The international public opinion witnessed the facts," he said, speaking as his 16-year-old daughter, Yara,
was still missing under the rubble being cleared away by bulldozers. "This does not require my words."
Egypt, the traditional mediator between Israel
and the Arab world, was at the centre of a flurry of diplomatic activity Monday. Egyptian intelligence
officials met separately in Cairo with an Israeli envoy and with Khaled Mashaal, the top Hamas leader in
exile.Hamas wants Israel to halt all attacks on Gaza
and lift tight restrictions on trade and movement in
and out of theterritory that have been in place since
Hamas seized Gaza by force in 2007. Israel demands an end to rocket fire from Gaza and a halt to weapons
smuggling into Gaza through tunnels underthe border with Egypt.



SOURCE:
www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/11/19/israel-gaza-rockets-hamas-idf.html

To me, palestineans should stop sending those missiles into isreal, only then I see isreal backing down. I am a christian, but truth be told, I am not comfortable with the casualty figures am seeing its terrible. I hope hostilities stop soon else I see total annihilation here.