U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri talk before making statements to reporters after Kerry met with Shukri and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the presidential palace in Cairo
AFP/Cairo
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday placed the onus on Hamas to end the conflict raging in Gaza as he worked with Egypt to fine-tune a ceasefire proposal.
The top US diplomat was locked in negotiations in Cairo, where he met twice within 24 hours with both Egypt's foreign minister and the Palestinian Authority's intelligence chief to try to end the violence that has killed more than 600 Palestinians and 29 Israelis.
Kerry said a ceasefire proposed by Egypt should serve as a "framework" to end two weeks of bloodshed.
But Hamas, which has been relentlessly firing rockets into Israel, insists the Jewish state lift its eight-year blockade of Gaza before it agrees a truce.
"While we still have work to do, it is clear to each party I met that there is a framework available to end the violence, and that framework was the Egyptian initiative," Kerry said at a press conference after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Kerry said he would meet "into the next days in order to work to see if we can find a way forward that ends the violence and then addresses the underlying causes of this crisis."
