Israeli air strikes hammer Gaza as truce hopes rise

Name: US President Joe Biden calls for ‘de-escalation’ amid Gaza conflict
Uploaded: 2021-05-20T12:21:37.000Z
Duration: 5 min 31 s
Description: US President Joe Biden calls for ‘de-escalation’ amid Gaza conflict

Germany’s Angela Merkel said ‘indirect talks’ with Hamas were essential to advancing efforts toward an end of hostilities

One Israeli strike on Gaza killed a disabled man, his pregnant wife and their three-year-old child

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A ball of fire erupts from a building in Gaza City’s Rimal residential district on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Agence France-Presse

Published: 8:21pm, 20 May 2021Updated: 2:15am, 21 May 2021

Diplomatic efforts gathered pace on Thursday for a ceasefire on the 11th day of deadly violence between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in Gaza as air strikes again hammered the enclave.

A column of grey smoke billowed above Gaza after a night in which families cowered in fear from the bombing while, the Israeli army said, some 70 rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel, sending residents fleeing into bomb shelters.

Talks continued to end the bloodshed after US President Joe Biden urged a “significant de-escalation” while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to push on until the military campaign reaches its objective, “to restore quiet and security” for Israelis.

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US President Joe Biden calls for ‘de-escalation’ amid Gaza conflict

UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland was visiting Qatar for talks with Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Islamist group Hamas which rules the enclave, as part of an effort to “restore calm,” according to a diplomatic source.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “indirect talks” with Hamas were essential to advancing efforts toward an end of hostilities. “Of course Hamas has to be included because without Hamas there will be no ceasefire,” she said.

Her foreign minister, Heiko Maas, speaking earlier near Tel Aviv, expressed Germany’s “solidarity” with Israel but also called for an end to the fighting.