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US seeks longer-term exit strategy for Gaza war

US officials are voicing support for a solution to the frequent cycles of violence between Hamas and Israel, one which may borrow from the UN resolution that ended the 2006 war with Lebanon.
U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken speaks on Syria at the White House in Washington, September 9, 2013. U.S. President Barack Obama will take his case for military action in Syria directly to the American people next week, stepping up his campaign to convince a deeply skeptical Congress to back strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces.  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque   (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CONFLICT) - RTX13EH6

As US Secretary of State John Kerry shuttled through the Middle East to discuss how to bring and end to the war in Gaza, US officials voiced support for a longer-term plan, beyond a cease-fire, to exit the cycle of conflict between Israel and Hamas, the third in just six years.

"There has to be some way forward that does not involve Hamas having the ability to continue to rain down rockets on Israeli civilians," US deputy national security adviser Antony Blinken told NPR’s "Morning Edition" July 23. "One of the results, one would hope, of a cease-fire would be some form of demilitarization, so that … this doesn't … repeat itself."

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