Russia’s Lavrov, Arab League chief call for end to fighting in Israel

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit called for a swift end to fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian Hamas fighters during their talks in Moscow on Monday.

“I am sure that Russia and the Arab League (will cooperate) above all else to stop the bloodshed,” AFP quoted Lavrov as saying.

Aboul Gheit said the Arab League “condemns violence, but from all sides."

He also called for an end to the fighting but said such violence would continue as long as the Palestinian problem remained unsolved.

Early Monday, Israel relentlessly pounded the Gaza Strip as fighting raged with Hamas around the Gaza Strip and the death toll from the war against the Palestinian militants surged above 1,100. The Israeli army said it hit more than 500 targets in the blockaded and impoverished Gaza Strip in overnight clashes, while fighting persisted in seven to eight locations inside Israel around the enclave. It came two days after Hamas launched a barrage of rockets and sent a wave of fighters who gunned down civilians and took at least 100 hostages in an massive attack that took Israel by surprise.

With inputs from agencies