What Egypt's president calls "Israeli aggression against Gaza" will end today though he gave no evidence to support that prediction. This comes as the white house overnight announced secretary of state Hillary Clinton is headed to the middle east to get Israel and Hamas to stop fighting.
More explosions in Gaza this morning as negotiations are underway with Egypt as mediator.
"We're encouraged by the cooperation and the consultation we've had with Egyptian leadership," said Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. "We want to see that again, support a process that can de-escalate the situation."
But the two sides are far apart. Hamas wants Israel to stop killing its leaders. Israel insists on a cease-fire first. That's the message Secretary of State Clinton will take when she meets with Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinians.
"We need a little bit of a period of quiet diplomacy here to try to de-escalate this," said State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
The White House says President Obama, still traveling in Asia, was on the phone till 2:30 this morning trying to keep this from escalating to a ground war.
"If Israelis push across the border using land forces, the narrative changes, the picture changes in ways that make it that much more difficult to get back to a negotiation," said former State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley.
But Israelis want more than just a temporary cease-fire.
"If the cease fire's going to take place, what is the guarantee that this is not something that's going to break down after a couple of weeks," said Ambassador Dennis Ross, a former Middle East envoy.
So far, there have been one thousand rockets fired by Hamas so far and over 13 hundred targets hit by Israeli missiles.
