Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi talked to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about the ongoing attacks in Gaza, a spokesman for Egypt's presidency said on Sunday. El-Sisi said Egypt's internal affairs won't interfere with its pursuit of a just settlement for Palestinians that safeguards their rights and allows the Palestinian people to have a livable state inside the June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, spokesman Ehab Badawi said. He added that Ki-moon expressed his hopes that a UN Security Council meeting this week will lead to ceasefire and praised Egyptian efforts to aid Palestinians and de-escalate the fighting, as Egypt is most capable of calming the situation, according to Badawi. Israeli airstrikes have killed over 165 Gazans and injured hundreds more after an aerial campaign dubbed Operation Protective Edge was launched on Tuesday. Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades have fired hundreds of rockets into Israel in the past week, with no Israeli casualties reported. El-Sisi said on Saturday that he was in touch with both sides of the conflict, according to Bedawi. The latest conflict was sparked on 12 June when three Israeli teenage settlers were kidnapped and murdered, triggering an Israeli military offensive on Hamas in the West Bank and an escalation of rocket fire from Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied that it was behind the killings. Source : Ahram online
