by Our World Desk

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin wants to host Israel-Palestine peace talks, Egypt’s president said — as Israel blitzed the Gaza strip.

Israel launched dozens of air raids and tanks shelled the besieged Palestinian territory on Sunday night after a single rocket landed in the southern village of Sderot, harming no-one. Four people were injured in Gaza and a reservoir in Beit Hanun was destroyed.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry condemned “disproportionate” Israeli attacks and said the country would not remain silent despite recently normalised relations.

Five Turkish protesters were arrested early on Monday after they entered a business centre housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.

In a newspaper interview published yesterday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said Mr Putin was ready to welcome Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Moscow “to carry out direct talks to find a solution and solve the issue.

“I see that the conviction of the importance of peace is rising among the Israeli side,” he added, “and the conviction about finding an exit to the issue is a positive sign.”

“At the same time, it is important to end the Palestinian-Palestinian rift … and to have national reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas so that the climate is ready for real efforts to establish a state,” he said.

But occupation authority Cogat confirmed yesterday it had approved the expansion of an illegal Israeli settlement in Hebron on Palestinian land seized for ostensibly military use.

international@peoples-press.com