Israel-Palestine Live Coverage: Air Assault on Gaza Expands --- Ground War Next?

Israeli soldiers on the border look down on the Gaza Strip (Photo: Ronen Zvulon/Reuters)

See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Insurgents Change the Situation on the Ground
Friday's Israel-Palestine Live Coverage: The Conflict Escalates from Gaza to Tel Aviv

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2144 GMT: The Israeli Prime Minister's Office has denied reports that a Government representative was sent to Cairo to conduct ceasefire talks.

2107 GMT: At a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has said, "There are some indications that there could be a ceasefire soon." However, he added that there are "no guarantees" of a halt to fighting.

A Haaretz journalist downplays the possibility:

Israeli government sources tell various media outlets no envoy on way to Cairo for ceasefire agreement

— Chemi Shalev (@ChemiShalev) November 17, 2012

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Grind of the Conflict

2148 GMT: Syria. The daily death toll has reached at least 150, according to the Local Coordination Committees:

72 of them were in Damascus and suburbs including 30 in Hajar Aswad, 20 were slaughtered in Jobar and 3 were field executed in Qadam. 32 martyrs in Aleppo most of them are in Manbej, 25 in Hama most of them are in Hwaija village and Masha' Arba'een neighborhood, 10 martyrs in Deir Ezzor most of them in Almohasan, 5 in Daraa, 3 in Idlib, 2 in Latakia and a martyr in Homs.

See our note on the casualty figures put forward by the Local Coordination Committees).

September is on track to be one of the bloodiest months in the recent history of the Middle East. August in Syria was the bloodiest of the last 10 years, even bloodier than any single month of conflict in Iraq or Afghanistan, even when using conservative numbers.

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