British Foreign Secretary William Hague spoke separately to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and called for an "immediate de-escalation." He expressed concern about the number of civilian casualties and urged a restoration of the November 2012 ceasefire. He told Lieberman "that continuing rocket attacks from Gaza are completely unacceptable. Israel has a right to defend itself against such attacks, but the whole world wanted to see de-escalation," according to a Foreign Office statement. "It is clear that we need urgent, concerted international action to secure a ceasefire, as was the case in 2012," Hague said, adding that we will discuss the issue Sunday with his counterparts from the United States, France and Germany. -- SPA 21:40 LOCAL TIME 18:40 GMT تغريد
