President Barack Obama of the United States expressed concern over the loss of life in Gaza in a call to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday and said Secretary of State John Kerry will "soon" travel to Cairo to seek an end to the fighting, according to Agence France Presse. AFP quoted a White House statement that said Obama, who condemned attacks by Hamas on Israel, "raised serious concern about the growing number of casualties, including increasing Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza and the loss of Israeli soldiers."
Obama and Netanyahu spoke after Kerry did the rounds of Sunday morning US news shows, with Netanyahu also appearing on two of the programs. Obama "reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself." The White House said Kerry will seek "an immediate cessation of hostilities based on a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement" and stressed the need to protect civilian life both "in Gaza and in Israel."