NBC's Chuck Todd reports on new developments in the Gaza-Israel conflict in the last 24 hours, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Israel, the West Bank and Egypt in an effort to promote a cease-fire.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET: Egyptian officials said talks are ongoing to reach a truce in Gaza, although any agreement appears unlikely to address the long-term areas of disagreement between Israel and the Hamas leaders of the Gaza Strip, NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reported Tuesday.
The truce is expected to be a "cessation of hostilities," according to one former intelligence official familiar with the talks. The fragile cessation of violence will call on all parties to use maximum restraint, the source said.
In the meantime, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was heading to the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials in a bid to end the crisis, as the United Nations warned against a possible Israeli ground invasion.
A U.S. official stressed to NBC News that Clinton would not meet with representatives of Hamas, the Islamist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, largely because of its failure to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel's right to exist.
Earlier Tuesday, President Barack Obama spoke to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who is seeking to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.?
According to White House officials, Obama spoke to Morsi for the third time in 24 hours. Deputy National Security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama wanted to talk to Morsi before Clinton's expected arrival in Israel.
Rhodes said Obama underscored the importance of Morsi working toward a de-escalation to the conflict in Gaza. He also commended Morsi's efforts to pursue a de-escalation and acknowledged Egypt's important role in the region's security.
Rhodes said Obama emphasized the importance of a diplomatic solution, but said that rocket fire from Gaza into Israel must stop.
Israel Defense Forces continued airstrikes overnight, while it said 39 rockets fired from Gaza hit Israel Tuesday in a message on its Twitter account.
Since Israel launched its military campaign seven days ago in response to rocket fire, more than 100 people in Gaza and three people in Israel have been killed.
Internationally, the main focus was on stopping the violence, and Morsi hinted at a possible breakthrough Tuesday.
Speaking at his sister's funeral in Egypt, Morsi?said the "aggression on Gaza" would end Tuesday.?He?made the apparently off-the-cuff comments in front of mourners who had come to pay their respects, but did not elaborate. Several journalists traveling with Morsi confirmed he made the remark.
'Army must invade': In southern Israel, support grows for action in Gaza
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister?Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would be a ?willing partner? in a cease-fire, but also issued a warning.
He said if further military action proved necessary ?to stop the constant barrage of rockets, Israel will not hesitate to do what is necessary to defend our people.?
And Mohammed Deif, the new leader of Hamas' military wing, sounded a defiant note, saying that the movement was ready to fight and would not back down from its efforts to liberate Palestine.
Despite talks of a truce, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continue, with a Hamas-linked bank being hit overnight along with 10 homes of alleged Palestinian militants. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
He was speaking in his first audio recording since the group?s previous top military commander, Ahmed Jabari, was killed in an Israeli airstrike Wednesday. Deif, who has survived several assassination attempts in the past, called for Hamas? supporters to remain steadfast.?
We are very scared': Egyptians fear being mired in Gaza-Israel crisis
Obama, who was in Cambodia for a summit of Asia leaders with Clinton, spoke on the phone with Netanyahu and Morsi until 2:30 a.m. Tuesday Cambodia time (2:30 p.m. ET Monday) as diplomats in Cairo tried to work out a cease-fire agreement overnight.
White House aides admitted that while talks were not at a stalemate, they believe the negotiations needede a nudge that Clinton's presence would hopefully provide.?
However, they said they were still working on what a "de-escalation" of the crisis would look like.
Lefteris Pitarakis / AP
An Israeli soldier stands on a tank at a staging area in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip early Tuesday.
Clinton flew out from Phnom Penh in Cambodia early Tuesday and was due to arrive in Israel Tuesday night.
She will meet Netanyahu in Jerusalem and then Palestinian officials in Ramallah before heading to Cairo, the White House spokesman said in a briefing to NBC News and other reporters in Cambodia.
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'Difficult' situation
However it is unclear how much influence the president or Clinton can have on the situation.
?She is going to go out there to be in the region to have direct, face-to-face discussions with those leaders,? Rhodes said. ?I don?t want to predict exactly what the outcome of those discussions will be. We all know how difficult this situation is.??
The White House thinks the leaders who are heavily involved in the region ?understand what the best outcome is,? Rhodes added, but that a peaceful goal is only achievable ?if Hamas takes action to stop what they?ve been doing.?
The Israel Defense Forces said on Twitter that an IDF soldier was ?moderately wounded? in a rocket attack in southern Israel early Tuesday. In another message at about 9:20 a.m. ET, it said five other IDF soldiers had been injured in a separate incident.
An Israeli air strike on two cars in the Gaza Strip killed six Palestinians Tuesday, while two children died in an attack in the north of the territory, local residents and medics told Reuters.?
Diplomats in Cairo have been trying to work out a cease-fire agreement; both sides say they are in favor of one, but the fighting has continued.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Tuesday for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and said a threatened Israeli ground operation in the Palestinian enclave would be a ?dangerous escalation? that must be avoided.
Later, standing alongside Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Ban urged Israel to show "maximum restraint" and condemned rocket attacks on Israel.
Also Tuesday, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby?and the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and Sudan traveled from Egypt to Gaza in an unprecedented move designed to show solidarity with the Palestinians, NBC News reported.
Oded Balilty / AP
Israeli police officers detain a man who attacked a security guard at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday.
US Embassy guard wounded
Meanwhile, a man was arrested after he stabbed a security guard Tuesday at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, a police spokesman told Reuters.?
The spokesman said the guard opened fire during the attack.
Israel Radio said the attacker, who police said was armed with a knife and an ax, was wounded.?
NBC's Shawna Thomas, Ayman Mohyeldin and Ian Johnston, and Reuters contributed to this report.
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