U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday that Washington was working hard to end cross-border fire between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, a Palestinian official said.

"President Abbas urged Clinton to accelerate" efforts to broker a ceasefire, Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator, told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where Abbas and Clinton met.

Clinton arrived in Ramallah, the second leg of her emergency regional visit, which started Tuesday by meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Abbas told Clinton that all Palestinian factions, including Hamas that controls Gaza, "seek to enforce a mutual and comprehensive lull making sure that Israel will stop its assassinations in Gaza."

Israel launched an aerial offensive by targeting Ahmed al- Jaabari, the commander of Hamas' military wing, a week ago. The attack dealt a blow to Hamas, prompting it to shower Israeli towns with rockets, reaching for the first time the outskirts of Jerusalem and the central city of Tel Aviv. The death toll among the Palestinians had exceeded 130 while it was five in Israel.

Erekat noted that Clinton would later go to Egypt and discuss with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi about the truce efforts. Egypt is heavily involved in attempts to broker an end for the new round of hostilities.

Erekat accused Israel of delaying a truce by threatening a ground invasion in Gaza, which he described as "blackmail."

Meanwhile, Erekat said that Clinton reiterated the U.S. opposition to the Palestinian plans of upgrading their UN status to a non-member observer state, which will be presented to the UN on Nov. 29.

Clinton wanted Abbas at least to put off the bid for the UN status upgrade, while Abbas said the Palestinians have already made their decision "to put a Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem on the geographic map." Endi

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