US envoy George Mitchell met with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday as spiraling Gaza violence threatened to shatter ceasefires that ended a war in the Hamas run enclave. Mitchell arrived in the occupied West Bank’s political capital of Ramallah shortly after 1100 GMT a day after holding talks with senior Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.
He went immediately into talks with the 75-year old former US senator, who helped broker peace in Northern Ireland in 1998.
Mitchell, making his maiden tour of the region, has said it is vital that the Gaza ceasefire be consolidated.
The former senator was appointed Middle East envoy by US President Barack Obama, tasked with vigorously resuscitating the lifeless Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Abbas has angrily hit out at the Jewish state in the wake of its deadliest ever war in Gaza that ended with Israel and the enclave’s Hamas rulers declaring mutual ceasefires on January 18.
“Today we are convinced more than ever, especially after the aggression against Gaza, that Israel does not want peace and we are going to say so to all those who come to see us,” Abbas said late Tuesday.
In Gaza, violence kept spiraling on Thursday with 18 Palestinians, including 11 schoolchildren and a pregnant woman, wounded in an Israeli air strike the targeted a Hamas policeman in the southern town of Khan Yunis, medics said.
UN makes $613m appeal
DAVOS: The United Nations will launch a 613 million dollar appeal to meet the “massive” needs of those hit by Israel’s 22-day war in Gaza, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.
The money is needed to provided to provide food, water, shelter, health care and other assistance after the conflict which left at least 1,300 dead and caused widespread destruction in the Palestinian territory, UN officials said.
“These needs are massive an multi-faceted,” Ban told a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, adding that the money could “help overcome at least some measures of this hardship.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, the right-winder tipped to become Israel’s prime minister in a looming election, was also at Davos and accused the Palestinian militant group Hamas of pursuing “terror efforts” despite a fragile ceasefire. “We’ll deal with it,” the Likud party leader told reporters on the sidelines of the forum when asked about the latest Israeli air attacks against Gaza and new rocket attacks into Israel.
“Regrettably we see that Hamas continues its terror efforts,” said Netanyahu, whose party has a wide lead in opinion pools ahead of the February 10 parliamentary election.
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