Egypt holds parallel talks with Israel, Palestinian government

Egypt is in touch with Israel in a bid to convince Tel Aviv to exercise self-restraint and desist from complicating the situation in light of raging clashes between Israeli military troops and Palestinian factions, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday.

Egypt is also in contact with all Palestinian factions to get them to stick to the Cairo-brokered ceasefire and refrain from giving any chance to any party to drive a wedge among them or undermine the Palestinian Authority, the spokesman added.

All parties should adhere to Sharm el-Sheikh understandings including the cool-off period in order for a planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip to take place as scheduled and negotiations be resumed to implement the roadmap which could be conducive to a final peace settlement between Palestinians and Israelis, the spokesman added.