Secretary of State John Kerry has been intensively involved in an effort to reach a ceasefire. On Friday, the Israeli Cabinet rejected Kerry’s latest proposal, with Israeli sources calling it too skewed toward Hamas demands, including lifting the seven-year blockade of Gaza. The Israeli rejection was issued in private so as not to strain U.S. ties. But at a news conference, Kerry denied that Israel had rejected his ceasefire plan, claiming it was never formally proposed.

Secretary of State John Kerry: “There was no formal proposal or final proposal or proposal ready for a vote submitted to Israel. Let’s make that absolutely crystal clear. And Prime Minister Netenyahu called me a few minutes before this to make it clear that that is an error, inaccurate, and he’s putting out a statement to that effect. They may have rejected some language or proposal within a framework of some kind of suggestion at some point in time, but there was no formal proposal submitted from me on which there should have been a vote or which a vote was ripe.”