Securing ceasefire harder now than in previous Gaza op, says US official

22 July 2014, 3:52 am

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State Department officials traveling with US Secretary of State John Kerry in the Mideast say reaching a ceasefire palatable to both Israel and Hamas is more difficult this time than during Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012.

“Our goal is to achieve a cessation of hostilities as soon as possible,” Reuters quotes one senior State Department official as telling reporters. “We don’t expect it will be easy, though. This is a very complicated dynamic.””

“The effort to reach a cease-fire this time around is going to be in some ways more complicated than it was in 2012,” a second US official says. “The region is more divided now.”