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Israeli soldiers in the Gaza strip. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images The Federal Aviation Administration has barred all US airlines from flying in or out of Tel Aviv for 24 hours, after a rocket reportedly landed near Ben Gurion airport.
The move came as political leaders and diplomats held urgent talks in the region with UN chief Ban Ki-moon saying his “hope and belief” was that an end to fighting could be “very near”.
Delta and United said earlier on Tuesday they were indefinitely suspending all flights between the US and Israel. US Airways cancelled a day's worth of flights and said it would continue to monitor the situation.
Delta had diverted a flight carrying 273 passengers bound for Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport to Paris, following “reports of a rocket or associated debris near the airport in Tel Aviv”.
The move, which came amid increasing international efforts to find a way of ending the bloodshed, is likely to alarm the Israeli government and business community, who have so far seen relatively little economic repercussions from the conflict. The decision of US carriers to suspend flights will further discourage tourists to the Holy Land, the one area of the economy that has been hit.
As diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis continued in the West Bank, Ban, in a video link to the UN security council in New York from Ramallah, suggested a deal could be imminent but that he could not disclose details “at this highly sensitive moment”.
“Suffice to say, it is my hope and belief that these talks will lead to results and an end to the fighting in the very near future.” He also warned of “many obstacles and complexities.”
Earlier in Tel Aviv, Ban delivered a blunt message to Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, saying the bloodshed in Gaza must end as the Israeli military continued its bombardment of the Gaza strip.
Urging Israel to exercise maximum restraint, the secretary general said in Tel Aviv that he understood the state’s security concerns, “but your military response is causing many civilian casualties. I hope we will be able to see the end of this violence as soon as possible.”
Expressing Israeli indignation at international criticism of the high Palestinian death toll, Israel’s ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, suggested Israel should be awarded the Nobel peace prize for “fighting with unimaginable restraint”.
The death toll in Gaza topped 600 on the 15th day of fighting, with more than 3,700 people injured. One airstrike on a house near Khan Younis killed 25 members of one family, including 18 children and five women, three of whom were pregnant, as they broke the Ramadan fast on Sunday evening. A Hamas member was also killed.
The UN said that 3% of the Gaza strip had become a virtual no-go zone following Israeli warnings for residents to evacuate.
Israel confirmed that one of its soldiers was missing in Gaza, and that 27 others had been killed. Two civilians have also died since the conflict began two weeks ago.
The missing soldier, named by the Israel Defence Forces as Oron Shaul, 20, was probably killed in or following an attack on an armoured personnel carrier during a a bloody battle in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Shujai’iya on Sunday, which killed six others in the vehicle, according to military sources.
Ban, who travelled to Ramallah and Tel Aviv after meetings to discuss ceasefire proposals in Cairo, said at a press conference: “My message to Israelis and Palestinians is the same: stop fighting, start talking and take on the root causes of the conflict so that we are not at the same situation in the next six months or a year.”
He condemned rocket fire from Gaza, which he described as “shocking”, but said Israel must exercise “maximum restraint”. He added: “We must address the underlying issues including mutual recognition, occupation, despair and denial of dignity so people will not feel they have to resort to violence as a means of expressing their grievances.”
He met earlier US secretary of state John Kerry in Cairo, who arrived in the region to add his weight to efforts to reach a ceasefire deal. Kerry also met the Egyptian president, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry.
Reiterating his support for an immediate ceasefire, Kerry said: “Hamas has a fundamental choice to make, and it is a choice that will have a fundamental impact on the people of Gaza.”
He added: “But just reaching a ceasefire is clearly not enough. It is imperative that there be a serious discussion, negotiation addressing the underlying issues that have brought us to where we are today.”
He added: “Once a ceasefire has been reached, we are certainly ready to talk through the incredibly complicated underlying issues to this crisis … The Egyptians have provided a framework and forum for them to be able to come to the table to have a series of discussions.”
Kerry said Israel has responded to Hamas rocket fire “as any country has the right to do when it’s under attack, and we support Israel’s right to self-defence.”
He nevertheless expressed sympathy for victims on “all sides” of the conflict. “We’ve seen too much bloodshed on all sides, including the death of two American citizens, and we have watched the humanitarian crisis grow worse day after day. People have lost their homes, possessions, access to water and food, their entire way of life.”
Hamas has rejected Egypt’s week-old proposal for a ceasefire because the group wants guarantees on the easing to the blockade on Gaza, and the release of prisoners.
But Egypt and Israel say such issues can only be discussed after a ceasefire is reached – a stance Kerry strongly endorsed.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jul/22/delta-cancels-flights-israel
