Cairo talks 'difficult'

As a 72-hour ceasefire continues to hold, Palestinian and Israeli delegates continue to negotiate via Egyptian intelligence officials. No breakthrough came out of Monday's initial talks, but all three parties to the negotiations have agreed on the need to reach a more permanent truce as a matter of urgency.

"We are facing difficult negotiations," Moussa Abu Marzouk, the Hamas representative to the Cairo talks, wrote Tuesday on Twitter.

Hamas seeks an end to a blockade by Israel and Egypt that has left Gaza with spotty access to materials, energy supplies and sometimes potable water since the political faction took control in 2007. The group also seeks the opening of a seaport for Gaza - a project Israeli officials would rather put off until future talks on a permanent peace agreement with the Palestinians. Israeli officials have also resisted lifting the economically stifling blockade on Gaza, suspecting that Hamas would stock up on weapons from abroad if given the access.

Sticky sticking points

Israel withdrew from Gaza last week after announcing that its army had completed the main mission of destroying more than 30 tunnels dug by militants for cross-border attacks. Officials now want guarantees that Hamas will not take supplies now being used to reconstruct the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, which was flattened in a month of airstrikes and ground shelling by Israel, to rebuild those tunnels instead.

The monthlong assault claimed the lives of 1,900 people, 75 percent of them civilians, according to the UN. Ground combat within Gaza left 64 Israeli soldiers dead. Three civilians died as a result of rockets fired from Gaza by militants.

According to the United Nations, Israel's airstrikes and shelling have displaced at least 425,000 of the Gaza Strip's 1.8 million people. The airstrikes and shelling have destroyed or severely damaged nearly 12,000 homes.

Following a July 23 vote, the UN Human Rights Council has appointed a commission to investigate possible war crimes committed by both sides during the conflict. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has said there is a strong possibility of war crimes.

mkg/sb (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)