World should impose solution on Israel, France says

French FM says cease-fire, 2-state solution, security for Israel is only option; Palestinian delegation suggests possible breakthrough in Cairo talks.

French FM Laurent Fabius 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
French FM Laurent Fabius 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
As Israel observes a unilateral, seven-hour cease-fire - which Palestinians say was broken immediately after it went into effect when a house was bombed, leaving a Palestinian child dead and others wounded - French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius made a statement, addressing the ongoing fighting.
Fabius said on Monday that world powers should impose a political solution to halt the conflict between Israel and Hamas that has claimed hundreds of lives in the Gaza Strip, and dozens on the Israeli side.
His statement comes after Palestinians said an Israeli air strike killed 10 people and wounded about 30 on Sunday in a UN-run school in the southern Gaza Strip, and Hamas fired rockets at Israel.
"This is why we need a political solution, of which the components are known, and which I believe should be imposed by the international community, because the two parties - despite countless efforts - have unfortunately shown themselves incapable of completing talks," the statement read.
"Cease-fire, imposition of a two-state solution and security for Israel - there is no other way," he added.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials told the Turkish Anadolu news agency that a possible breakthrough in cease-fire talks was in the making. Both Palestinian and Egyptian officials agreed on the need to end Israel's military offensive in Gaza and stop the number of Palestinian casualties from increasing, the news agency cited sources in the meeting as saying. 
Israeli officials have refused to say whether an Israeli delegation would eventually be sent to Cairo to discuss a cease-fire agreement, or what Jerusalem thinks about the conditions being presented in Egypt by the Palestinian delegation.

Palestinian negotiators in Cairo are presenting the Egyptians with a document detailing their conditions for a cease-fire with Israel. Palestinian demands include lifting the siege, reopening the border crossings and allowing construction material into the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians are demanding free passage between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, freedom of fishing within approximately 22 km. of the coast, reopening the Palestinian airport in the southern Gaza Strip, construction of a seaport and cancellation of buffer zones along the border with Israel.
"The Egyptian side has responded positively to the demands of the Palestinian delegation," a source said.
Herb Keinon contributed to this report.