CAIRO, July 14 (Aswat Masriya) Egypt has launched an initiative calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. 

The initiative maintains that Israel should cease all hostilities on Gaza, whether by land, sea or air, and urges Israel not to take part in any ground invasion or target civilians.  

It also called on all Palestinian factions to stop all hostilities towards Israel, whether by land, sea or air, and maintains that firing rockets and targeting civilians should be halted. 

The foreign ministry set a date for starting the ceasefire initiative that is to coincide with the opening of the border crossings.

A week-long Israeli air strikes have killed 170 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health officials. 

The violence started after the bodies of three missing Israeli teenagers were found dead in the occupied West Bank, who Israel said were kidnapped and killed by Islamist group Hamas.