(JNS.org) Egypt’s foreign minister slammed Hamas for rejecting an Egyptian cease-fire proposal and laid the blame on the terror group for the recent deaths of Palestinians.

“Had Hamas accepted the Egyptian proposal, it could have saved the lives of at least 40 Palestinians,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said, the Egyptian state-run news outlet MENA reported.

The statement by Egypt’s foreign minister comes as Israel has launched a ground invasion into Gaza to destroy Hamas’s tunnel system, which the terror group has used to fire rockets at the Jewish state and to infiltrate the country.

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, with both officials reiterating their calls for an immediate cease-fire, Ahram News reported.

A top-level Israeli delegation was also in Egypt for talks about a Gaza cease-fire. The delegation headed by Shin Bet Chief Yoram Cohen includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s envoy, Isaac Molho, and the head of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s political-security department, Amos Gilad.