CAIRO (TASS) — A delegation of Egyptian mediators that established contacts with Palestinians and Israelis with the aim of reaching a ceasefire has left Tel Aviv, having failed to convince the Israeli leadership to establish a ceasefire, an informed source in Cairo informed TASS on Friday.

It was informed earlier that an Egyptian delegation had arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Previously, the Egyptian mediators had met with Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip.

According to the source, at first, the Egyptians, who have traditionally acted as mediators on this issue, offered a temporary ceasefire as a first step towards achieving a permanent one. “However, so far, it seems that this initiative has no prospects. At first, we discussed three hours of a humanitarian ceasefire, then six, but it was all left without a response”, the source said. “The Palestinian resistance demands that Israel halt aggressive action in East Jerusalem. For its part, Israel is simply refusing to respond to initiatives and calls for a ceasefire. Thus, the Egyptian delegation was forced to leave Tel Aviv.”

The exchange of missile attacks between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which has been going on since May 10, was triggered by riots in East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police officers erupted after an Israeli court had ruled to evict several Palestinian families from the city’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and hand the property over to Jewish settlers, saying that they had owned it before 1948.

According to different estimations, over 2,000 missiles have been launched in the direction of Israel from the Gaza Strip. Media reports say that Palestinian radicals’ attacks on Israeli cities have killed at least eight Israelis. The Israeli army is considering holding a ground operation in Gaza. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) informed on Friday that the Israeli military were attacking the Gaza Strip, however, army officials later disproved reports of a ground invasion.

The Gaza Health Ministry said earlier that at least 109 Palestinians had been killed in the attacks, and over 620 people were injured.