Abbas, Meshaal seek UN timetable to end Israel occupation

The Palestinian president and Hamas's exiled leader Friday urged the United Nations to draw up a "timetable" for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories to end, Qatar state media said.

President Mahmud Abbas and Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal issued the appeal during talks in Doha, as fighting continues in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Qatar's state news agency QNA said.

The two Palestinian leaders have been holding talks in Doha since Thursday, but little else has filtered out of their meetings which are hosted by the emir of Qatar, a key backer of Hamas.

Their discussions, at the palace of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, came after fighting in Gaza flared anew on Tuesday as Egyptian-brokered truce efforts collapsed.

Talks broke down with Israel insistent on its demand of disarming Hamas, while the Palestinian group called for an end to eight years of Israeli blockade.

QNA said that Abbas and Meshaal discussed Israel's "aggression" on Gaza and underlined "the importance of acting at all levels in order to... lift Israel's blockade of Gaza".

They also agreed to request from the United Nations "a resolution that would define a timetable for the end of Israel's occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state".

The agency said Abbas would undertake the diplomatic steps necessary to seek such a resolution.

Hamas joined a national unity government with the president's Fatah faction in June, sparking Israeli fury.

During their meeting, Abbas and Meshaal stressed that the unity government "represents all the Palestinian people and looks after their interests", QNA said.

It also reported that the Qatari ruler spoke by phone Friday to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon to discuss efforts to stop "Israel's aggression on Gaza and the lifting of the blockade".

Netanyahu warns Hamas of 'heavy price' to pay

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday vowed an even stronger offensive against Hamas in Gaza, after a mortar round fired from the Palestinian territory killed an Israeli child.

"Hamas will pay a heavy price for this attack," Netanyahu's spokesman Ofir Gendelman cited the premier as saying on his Twitter account, adding that the Israeli army and Shin Bet internal security service would "intensify ops against Hamas" until the goal of Protective Edge is achieved.

"A mortar hit near a kindergarten in the Sdot Negev regional council, killing an Israeli child," a statement from the Israeli army read.

"Netanyahu sends his condolences to the family of the 4-year-old boy that was killed this afternoon by a mortar round fired by Hamas," Gendelman wrote.

The number of civilians killed in Israel during its 46-day military onslaught rose to four, in addition to 64 Israeli soldiers killed in and around the Gaza Strip.

At least 2,092 Palestinians have been killed since July 8, of whom the United Nations has identified 70 percent as civilians.

Israel has vowed to continue its campaign of air strikes, and Israeli security cabinet authorised the call-up of up to 10,000 army reservists in a new troop rotation, media reported.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid, regarded as one of the less hawkish members of the security cabinet, threatened further deadly attacks on Hamas leaders.

"Hamas leaders need to know that we shall not stop now," he said in remarks broadcast by public radio.

"Each and every one of them -- the political wing, the military wing, abroad or in Gaza itself -- needs to know that he is a legitimate target for assassination as long as they continue... to threaten Israeli citizens," Lapid said.

On Tuesday, Israel tried to assassinate Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, who has topped its most wanted list for more than a decade.

That attack levelled a six-storey building in Gaza City, killing two women and three children, among them Deif's wife, his infant son and three-year-old daughter.

European initiative

On Thursday, Britain, France and Germany put forward key points of a new UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire, and the lifting of Israel's blockade.

Diplomats said the text was aimed at advancing efforts to reach agreement within the 15-member council after a draft resolution from Jordan met with resistance, notably from the United States.

Washington has wielded its veto powers at the UN Security Council repeatedly in the past on behalf of its Israeli ally.

But relations have been strained over the breakdown of US-brokered peace efforts and concerns over the scale of the civilian death toll in Gaza.

The new resolution proposes a mechanism to monitor the ceasefire and supervise the movement of goods into Gaza to allay Israeli security concerns.

It also called for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority to take control of Gaza.