Palestinian UN envoy hopes for cease-fire soon

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Palestinian United Nations envoy says he hopes “a very intensive negotiation” in Cairo might produce a cease-fire “in the hours to come” between Israel and Hamas.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour said in an interview with The Associated Press soon after Israel was reported to have launched a ground invasion into Gaza late Thursday that it “would increase and compound the number of casualties to a very exponential level.”

He said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with leaders from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Egypt and other many others and he understood that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was on his way to Egypt.

“We hope that an agreement and cease-fire to take place as quickly as possible before shedding the blood of one additional single Palestinian soul,” Mansour said.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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