21 days on from the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, the death toll rose to 1,070 plus more than 5,000 wounded. Meanwhile, Qatar re-called for an emergency Arab summit in Doha to discuss the halt of the Arab Peace Initiative adopted at the Beirut Summit some years ago. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit, called for by Saudi Arabia yesterday and due to be held in Riyadh, would resolve the issue of whether to hold the emergency summit. A leading figure of Hamas said the movement welcomed the Egyptian efforts to stop the aggression on Gaza, pointing out that Egypt is the only country that can play such a role. On the ground, Israeli planes, tanks and ships continued pounding different areas of the Gaza Strip yesterday. Dozens of armored vehicles pushed into the center of the Tel Al-Hawa area for the first time. Fierce clashes broke out with Palestinian fighters, while many residents were forced to leave their houses due to the artillery bombardment, which got close to Hamas leading figure Mahmoud al-Zahar's house. In Cairo, a leading figure of Hamas told Al-Masry Al-Youm that his movement had agreed on the items of the Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire in Gaza, adding that Hamas had expressed its ideas about how to implement those items. According to this leading figure, Hamas's delegation informed the Turkish envoy that the mediator would be Egypt, thanking Ankara for its efforts. The head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau, Amos Gilad, went to Cairo yesterday to discuss the ceasefire in a three-hour meeting with Minister Omar Suleiman. According to a diplomatic source close to the talks, Gilad returned to his country after the meeting to brief his government on his talks while waiting for a decision to be reached.
