Mitchell says consolidating truce a priority

Occupied Jerusalem: US President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy said on Friday the new administration's push for Israeli-Palestinian peace after the war in the Gaza Strip faced substantial hurdles, and he predicted further setbacks.

The sombre assessment by former US senator George Mitchell followed two days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders about shoring up a shaky ceasefire that ended Israel's invasion of Gaza.

Mitchell said consolidating the truce and "addressing immediately the humanitarian needs" of Gaza's 1.5 million residents were the Obama administration's priorities.

"Then we must move forward," he added, apparently referring to stalled peace talks that have now been derailed by the war.

In keeping with long-standing US policy, Mitchell did not meet during his visit with Hamas, which won a 2006 Palestinian election and is shunned as a "terrorist" organisation by Western powers for refusing to recognise Israel.

Israel tightened its blockade of the Gaza Strip after Hamas routed the secular Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and seized control of the enclave in June 2007.

"The tragic violence in Gaza and in southern Israel offers a sobering reminder of the very serious and difficult challenges and, unfortunately, the setbacks that will come," Mitchell told reporters after touring a UN warehouse in occupied Jerusalem packed with aid for Gaza's residents.

But he added: "The United States remains committed to actively and aggressively seeking a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as between Israel and its other Arab neighbours."

At the UN warehouse, Mitchell announced that Obama had approved $20 million (Dh73.4 million) in new assistance for Gaza. The money, on top of nearly $40 million in ongoing US support, will be used to provide food, medicine and shelters, officials said.

Israel's goal in launching its war on December 27 was to force Hamas fighters to stop rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns.