Leaders in the Middle East and in the US say they do not want to see a new war in Gaza. The US on Thursday held fast in its belief that Israel had launched its attack in self-defence. It still appealed to Egypt, which pulled out its ambassador from Tel Aviv, to help end the crisis. But so far the US has not used its considerable leverage with either Israel or Egypt to push publicly for an end to the violence. Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan reports from the US State Department in Washington D.C.