News Brief

Egypt filed an official protest with Israel on Saturday night over the operation in Gaza with the Israeli embassy in Egypt. In an official statement, Egypt said that it would "continue to work towards developing an atmosphere in which it will be possible to renew the truce and to achieve an agreement between the various Palestinian groups."

However, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that Cairo had little sympathy for Hamas. "Egypt warned Hamas for a long time that this would happen, and whoever doubted this warning is responsible," he said at a news conference in Cairo. "We knew this was going to happen because Hamas would not stop firing rockets at Israel," he said.