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ByMaggieMichael The Associated Press CAIRO Egypt presented a cease-fire plan Monday to end a week of heavy fight- ing between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip that has left at least 185 people dead. The proposal marked the most serious attempt yet by international medi- ators to end the conflict. A senior Hamas official said the group was open to the plan. Israel had no immedi- ate reaction, but local me- dia quoted officials as say- ing the government was considering it seriously. Israel is demanding guar- antees of an extended pe- riod of quiet, while Hamas seeks an easing of an Is- raeli-Egyptian blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza. Israel launched the of- fensive last Tuesday, saying it was a response to weeks of heavy rocket fire out of Hamas-ruled Gaza. Pales- tinian medical officials say 185 people, including doz- ens of civilians, have been killed. The Israelis have suf- fered no fatalities, thanks in large part to a new rocket- defense system that has in- tercepted dozens of incom- ing projectiles. With the death toll mounting, both sides have come under increasing in- ternational pressure to halt the fighting. Late Monday, Egypt's Foreign Ministry an- nounced a three-step plan starting with a temporary cease-fire to go into effect within 12 hours of "uncon- ditional acceptance" by the two sides. That would be followed by the opening of Gaza's border crossings and talks in Cairo between the sides within two days, ac- cording to the statement. In a speech broadcast on Al-Jazeera, Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader in Gaza, confirmed that there was "diplomatic movement." He said Hamas was seek- ing not only an end to the fighting, but also an easing of a blockade that has crip- pled life in Gaza. "The problem is not go- ing back to the agreement on calm because we want this aggression to stop," he said. "The problem is the reality of Gaza, the siege, the starv- ing, the bombing ... The siege must stop and Gaza people need to live in dignity." Egypt, the first Arab state to reach peace with Israel, often serves as a mediator between Israel and Hamas. In the 2012 fighting be- tween Israel and Hamas, Egypt's then-President Mo- hammed Morsi brokered a cease-fire, leveraging the in- fluence his Muslim Brother- hoodheldwithitsallyHamas. The proposal was ex- pected to be discussed at an Arab League meeting of foreign ministers later Monday. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, are expected in the region on Tuesday as well. A senior Hamas official said the group was study- ing the proposal, but sig- naled the group is open to the ideas. "We are not beg- ging for a cease-fire, but at the same time, we are not going to reject any under- standing that can change the current living condi- tions in Gaza." He spoke on condition of anonymity be- cause the group has not for- mally responded yet. There was no formal re- sponse from Israel, but Is- raeli TV and radio stations said the country's leaders were seriously considering the proposal. Israel and Hamas bat- tled for eight days in late 2012. An Egyptian-medi- ated truce included guaran- tees of quiet for Israel and an easing of the blockade. Hamas has complained that the conditions of the deal were not honored. Hamas wants Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing to increased traf- fic, and for Israel to ease the flow of goods into Gaza. Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. Israel says the mea- sures are needed to keep the group from importing arms into the seaside ter- ritory. MIDDLE EAST Eg yp t pr op os es t ha t Is ra el is -H am as c ea se fi re LEFTERISPITARAKIS—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Palestinians walk by the rubble of a house destroyed by an overnight Israeli missile strike during the week-long conflict in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Monday. By Bradley Klapper The Associated Press VIENNA The top U.S. and Iranian diplomats searched Monday for a breakthrough in nuclear talks, their ef- forts complicated by crises across the Middle East and beyond that have Washing- ton and Tehran aligned in some places but often op- posed. The state of U.S.-Iranian relations was adding a new wrinkle to the long negoti- ation aimed at curbing the Islamic republic's uranium and plutonium programs. While the two sides are arguably fighting proxy wars in Israel, Gaza and Syria, they're talking co- operation in Iraq and Af- ghanistan. And, perhaps in a first, the nuclear matter is battling for full attention. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Moham- med Javad Zarif spoke for about two hours around midday Monday, the sec- ond day of talks in Vienna. They gathered again in the afternoon, hoping to make progress before Sunday's initial deadline for a com- prehensive nuclear agree- ment. An extension of the deadline is possible, though there are opponents of that idea on both sides. "We are in the middle of talks about nuclear prolifer- ation and reining in Iran's program," Kerry told U.S. Embassy staff in Vienna during a break in the con- versations. "It is a really tough negotiation." But other matters were being discussed, too, in- cluding Afghanistan, where Kerry visited before Vienna to broker a power-shar- ing agreement between ri- val presidential candidates and a full audit of their con- tested election. As the two diplomats sat down Sunday, Zarif called Kerry's Afghan mediation "extremely important" for the Afghan people and echoed the need "to ensure the national unity of Af- ghanistan and prevent its breakup." "We agree," Kerry said. "And it's good to begin with an agreement." But even as the U.S. and Iran have recently found in- creasing areas for cooper- ation, such as stemming a flow of Sunni extremists into Iraq, they remain diametri- cally opposed elsewhere. The U.S-Iranian regional divide was underscored Monday as the Israeli mil- itary downed a drone launched by Gaza militants — the first such unmanned aircraft encountered since the start of the Jewish state's offensive last week. Iran is Hamas' primary benefactor and the pre- sumed source of its new- found drone capacity. Wash- ington provides billions in aid each year to Israel. The State Department didn't say if Kerry and Zarif broached the escalating Is- raeli-Palestinian violence or the civil war in neighbor- ing Syria, where the U.S. is providing political and military support to mod- erate rebels fighting Pres- ident Bashar Assad's Ira- nian-backed government. But one change appeared clear in this week's talks. Unlike in years past, where U.S.-Iranian interaction ap- peared largely limited to nuclear matters, the two countries' interests now crisscross at multiple lev- els, and their discussions are broader. Nevertheless, American officials said Kerry was focused on tackling the many differences between the U.S. and Iran on nu- clear matters. His goal is to gauge "Iran's willingness to make the critical choices it needs to make," according to a senior State Depart- ment official. 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