DHAKA: US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Israel and the Palestinians to take advantage of the Gaza truce to move towards broader negotiations.

Kerry told the BBC the situation could concentrate minds on the need to negotiate a "two-state solution".

A 72-hour humanitarian truce is holding in Gaza, halting a four-week conflict that has claimed more than 1,900 lives, reports BBC.

Israel and the Palestinians have sent delegations to Cairo to discuss the possibility of a longer-term truce.

Kerry, in an interview with Zeinab Badawi for BBC HARDtalk, said the US fully supported Israel's right to defend itself against militant rocket attacks.

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"No country can live with that condition and the United States stands squarely behind Israel's right to defend itself in those circumstances. Period."

He said that Hamas, which controls Gaza, had "behaved in an unbelievably shocking manner engaging in this activity and, yes, there has been horrible collateral damage as a result".

BDST: 0946 HRS, AUG 06,2014