Morsi pressed Obama for action over aggression against Gaza

Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi told Barack Obama in no uncertain terms that if America didn’t put pressure on Israel over its aggression against the people of Gaza, “the US will lose Egypt forever”. This has been revealed by a source close to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

President Morsi, who mediated a ceasefire between the Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza and the Israelis, made it clear during the Israeli offensive that he would not leave the people of Gaza alone and would do his best to stop Israel’s aggression. He told President Obama during a telephone discussion that the US must put “real pressure” on Israel to end its bombardment.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr announced that a ceasefire had been agreed after 8 days during which Israeli bombs and missiles had rained down on Gaza’s civilian population. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was present when the announcement was made.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 166 Palestinians were killed by the Israelis, including 43 children and 13 women; more than 1,235 were wounded, most of them civilians. In addition, over 200 houses were destroyed completely by Israeli bombs, with 8,000 houses being damaged.

Residential properties were not the only targets of the Israelis; three mosques, one hospital and two health clinics were also completely destroyed; even cemeteries were hit.

Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak claimed that Israel targeted 1,500 “terrorist bases” and killed more than 130 “terrorists”.