(Communicated by the Office of the President)

President Shimon Peres, today (Monday, 14 July 2014), spoke to the media after spending the morning with children from the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip who came to the President's Residence in Jerusalem for summer camp activities as respite from the ongoing rocket attacks against their communities. President Peres said, "We are doing all we can to bring this indiscriminate rocket fire against Israel to an end. We want the children of Israel to be able to live normal lives, to go to school and to play outdoors. Israel has a responsibility to protect its women and children who are sitting in bomb shelters day and night. Hamas is threatening and firing rockets without reason, they have no constructive proposals. The children of Gaza are also suffering as a result of Hamas and I hope the people of Gaza will act to bring an end to Hamas's madness. None of us want to see people suffering and it is clear who began this offensive and who is looking to put an end to it and find a positive way forward. This is not a simple situation, there are multiple terror organizations and some of them do not cooperate with one another leading to continued firing and continued destruction."

President Peres was asked if he was being pressured by world leaders to put an end to the fighting and said, "Terror is a global threat – like us, the leaders of the world stand against terrorism."