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2014 Gaza Conflict

2014 Gaza Conflict183 posts
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2 Aug, 2014

Truce talk arrangements ‘still in place’

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Egypt says its arrangements for Israel and Hamas to participate in talks on resolving the 2014 Gaza conflict remain in place despite the breakdown of the 72-hour ceasefire. Foreign ministry statement:

Egypt assures that the invitation it sent to the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government to send their two delegations to Cairo to study all issues of concern […] within the framework of the Egyptian initiative is still in place

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas confirms a joint Palestinian delegation that includes Hamas and Islamic Jihad is on its way to Cairo.

Hamas: shelling killed soldier

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Hamas says it has no clear indication of the whereabouts of Israel Defense Forces Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin or of militants that the IDF says kidnapped him, and assesses that he has been killed by his own side. In a statement:

We have lost contact with the group of fighters that took part in the ambush and we believe they were all killed in the (Israeli) bombardment. Assuming that they managed to seize the soldier during combat, we assess that he was also killed in the incident.

The IDF’s Hannibal Procedure rule states that no soldier of any rank is to be captured, and includes standing orders to bombard possible escape routes in the event of an abduction.

1 Aug, 2014

17 Gazans killed ahead of ceasefire

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Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra says 17 Gaza residents are killed in Israeli strikes ahead of the 72-hour ceasefire agreed to by both sides. He says the dead include 10 members of one family killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis, while Gaza police report heavy Israeli tank shelling in northern and eastern Gaza.

Deputy seeks longer ceasefire

HamasIsraelJohn Kerry0 Comments

william_burnsDeputy Secretary of State William Burns is heading to Cairo to seek an extension of the 72-hour ceasefire agreed by Hamas and Israel. Israeli officials rarely meet on the Sabbath, which starts at sundown Friday, while travel time for negotiating delegations to reach Cairo is also an issue. A senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity in New Delhi during Kerry’s visit:

There is a hope for an extension because people have to travel and don’t want to lose a whole day […] We obviously hope there will be (an extension of the ceasefire) and would encourage that, but obviously to do so there’s got to be some sense of serious purpose on the table.

Envoy: Truce ‘should hold’

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A key U.S. official says the 72-hour truce agreed by Israel and Hamas should hold while the two sides can negotiate a more durable ceasefire, unlike a previous 12-hour ceasefire that broke down with renewed rocket fire. Martin S. Indyk, who served until June as special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations:

It’s the package deal that Kerry has been working on for two weeks. Both sides have accepted it and the follow-on negotiations, and both sides seem to prefer that to continuing the conflict. This one should hold.

Israel: ‘Flagrant violation’ ends truce

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The 72-hour truce agreement breaks down less than four hours into the ceasefire period as Israel says Hamas breaches the terms of the agreement. Palestinian and Israeli officials confirm Jerusalem has told United Nations envoy Robert Serry Statement that the truce is over. Netanyahu’s office:

Once again the terror organisations in Gaza flagrantly violating the ceasefire to which they committed themselves, this time to the US Secretary of State and the UN Secretary General

10 Gazans killed 4 hours into ceasefire

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Gaza officials and Palestinian media say at least 10 people have been killed and 15 wounded around four hours into the 72-hour ceasefire period. Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Kidra and Gaza police spokesman Ayman Batniji say Israeli tanks shelled the eastern part of the town of Rafah in the south of the enclave shortly before 1000 local time, 0200 Eastern Standard Time. The Israel Defense Forces says a heavy exchange of fire has erupted in the area.

Rockets three hours into ceasefire

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Israeli artillery starts a heavy bombardment of targets in the Gaza Strip around three hours into the 72-hour ceasefire period, said to be in response to rocket fire during the preceding hour. The Kerem Shalom crossing is closed after coming under rocket fire, with the Israel Defense Forces focusing its strikes on the southern town of Rafah.

Reporter: rockets fired from Al Shifa hospital

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Finland’s Helsingin Sanomat reports rockets fired from ‘right in the back of the parking lot’ of Al-Shifa hospital around 2 a.m. local time. Unnamed correspondent:

Really, it happened right in the area, the sound of it was really loud […] It’s true that rockets are launched here from the Gazan side into Israel

Helsingin Sanomat correspondant admits hamas launched rockets from shifa hospital

Strikes launched ahead of ceasefire

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Hamas reports that the Israel Air Force has struck along the Philadelphi corridor on the territory’s border with Egypt minutes after the 72-hour ceasefire begins, while the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepts six incoming rockets aimed at Ashdod, and another three explode outside the town. The truce holds despite the exchanges of fire.

‘Child sacrifice’ ad campaign

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Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of the This World: The Values Network promotes an essay by Wiesel accusing Hamas of using children as human shields and comparing this to the Jewish myth of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac:

[…] we have produced this advertising campaign with Elie Wiesel, to stop the terrorist cowards of Hamas from hiding behind innocent children and pregnant women

The campaign includes full-page ads in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald and use of social media.

Belgian doctor refuses treatment

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A Belgian doctor refuses to treat 90-year-old Jewish woman Bertha Klein for a fractured rib:

I’m not coming […] Send her to Gaza for a few hours, then she will get rid of the pain

He tells Joods Actueel newspaper that he had an ’emotional reaction.’ Her grandson, Hershy Taffel, who files a discrimination complaint with police:

It reminds me of what happened in Europe 70 years ago. I never thought those days would once again be repeated.

Nine killed in West Bank

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Tamer-Smour-funeralAs many as nine people are reported killed in the West Bank in two days following the breakdown of the 72-hour ceasefire agreement. The Israel Defense Forces resorts to firing live rounds during rioting in Tulkarem city, the villages of Saffa, Beit Fajar and Beit Umar and the Arroub refugee camp while witnesses say a person in a car, believed to be a settler, shoots dead 18-year-old Khaled Azmi Odeh and wounds three others near Nablus. An IDF spokeswoman comments on Tulkarem:

1,200 rioters [throwing] rocks and Molotov cocktails at troops and at an industrial center in the vicinity, endangering workers and passers-by […] The forces used riot dispersal means and once these means were exhausted, they fired at the main instigators

Passes $225 million Iron Dome bill

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The U.S. Congress passes a $225 million funding bill for Iron Dome ahead of the five-week summer break for lawmakers. The House of Representatives 395-8 vote in favor follows unanimous Senate approval and the bill now goes to President Barack Obama, who requested the money and is expected to sign it into law. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on the Senate floor:

We will stand with you on the battlefield; we will stand with you in the court of public opinion, and we’re going to push back against the United Nations.

‘Never second guess me’

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Netanhayu gives an imperative to the Obama administration over the phone with U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro:

Not to ever second guess me again

He says that he warned the U.S. ahead of time not to trust Hamas to stick to ceasefire conditions, after a three-day truce agreement breaks down within two hours as Hamas militants are said to abduct an Israel Defense Forces soldier on a tunnel operation and the IDF responds with tank shells.

Israeli soldier captured

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23-year-old Hadar Goldin is dragged into a tunnel by a Palestinian militant group. The capture happens two hours after a three-day ceasefire begins. Two Israeli soldiers die while searching for the missing soldier. Netanyahu’s office says:

Once again, Hamas and the terror organisations in Gaza have blatantly broken the ceasefire to which they committed, this time before the American Secretary of State and the UN Secretary General

1,459 Palestinian, 64 Israeli deaths

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Officials say that at least 1,459 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave ahead of a 72-hour ceasefire agreed to by both sides, and nearly 7,000 wounded, while 61 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting and more than 400 wounded, and three civilians in Israel have been killed by Palestinian rockets.

UN: ‘Collective effort’

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The United Nations says Qatar, Turkey and Egypt have assisted in securing the 72-hour ceasefire, amid concern among Arabic nations about an apparent regional rise in hardline Islamism. UN statement:

We thank key regional stakeholders for their vital support of this process, and count on a continued collaborative international effort to assist Egypt and the parties reach a durable ceasefire as soon as possible

UN official Jeffrey Feltman:

The Egyptians played an important role, the Qataris played an essential role in helping bring the parties on board, the Turks were in touch with all sides. This was a collective effort.

Kerry: ‘Lull of opportunity’

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Kerry urges both sides to use the unexpected three-day truce to secure a more durable agreement:

It is a lull of opportunity, a moment for the different factions to be able to come together with the state of Israel in an effort to try to address ways to find a sustainable ceasefire and then obviously, over a longer period of time, address the underlying issues

Three-day ceasefire

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A 72-hour ceasefire takes effect at 8 a.m. in Israel, midnight Eastern Standard Time. The truce, announced unexpectedly overnight by Kerry during his visit to India and also by Ban Ki-Moon in New York, appears to be holding with fishing boats venturing offshore from Gaza beaches, while Israeli forces on the ground remain in place. The three-day timeframe is considered to be long enough to negotiate on key issues while allowing Israeli forces to complete their mission of destroying smuggling tunnels. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will head to Cairo for talks during the ceasefire. Statement by Kerry and Ban:

We urge all parties to act with restraint until this humanitarian ceasefire begins, and to fully abide by their commitments during the ceasefire