Israel: Hamas broke ceasefire
The Israeli government says that Hamas broke the truce agreement by firing rockets before the ceasefire window expired at midnight Eastern Standard Time:
Israel agreed to Egypt’s call to extend the 72-hour ceasefire. Shortly after 4 a.m., with the ceasefire still in effect, rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza by terrorists, followed by dozens of more rockets that were fired from Gaza, causing injuries and damage in Israel.
It adds that two rockets were fired during the window:
22 rockets were fired at #Israel today, two of them were fired at 4 am (four hours before the ceasefire ended).
This prompts the Israeli response:
After hours of renewed rocket fire from Gaza, PM Netanyahu and DM Yaalon ordered the IDF to respond with force…Israel will continue defending itself against Hamas’ terror.
‘My brother died to stop terror’
The sister of South Padre Island, Tx., native and Israel Defense Forces lone soldier Nissin Sean Carmeli says he died in order to stop terror as well as anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance, while the international focus on Israel is ‘hypocritical’ when there are many genocides and conflicts worldwide:
The only thing that has been on my mind for the past two weeks is why my brother really died. It seems a little hypocritical. Aborigines in Australia, Indians in America, Armenians in Turkey, Tutsis in Rwanda, Iraqis by ISIS, Syrians by their own kind, Russia, Europe, Africa, and the list goes on. But the media emphasizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The political focus is on the Jews, the Jews, yes, the Jews. Perhaps this is all I see.
She says that terrorism begins in Israel, but…
…like the Islamic State recently said, ‘The Islamic caliphate has been established, God willing it will not stop until we raise the flag of Prophet Muhammad in the White House.’ My brother fought terrorism, not only for my family and me, but for all of you as well, with the hope that someday, Jews, Christians, Muslims and all religious and seculars people will find serenity in their homes, in their hearts, and in their minds.
Davis Cup match moved from Tel Aviv
The International Tennis Foundation announces that it is moving Israel’s Sept. 12-14 Davis Cup match against Argentina out of Tel Aviv and that the playoff will not be held in any other Israeli city. Israel, as the team with home-court advantage, must choose among four venues for the new location: New York; Delray Beach, Fl; Krakow, Poland; or Tallinn, Estonia. Argentine Tennis Association president Arturo Grimaldi regarding the 204 Gaza conflict:
We are concerned. We have communicated with the ITF, which promises to make a decision about Davis Cup very soon.
Haaretz most cited
Editors at Haaretz find that the newspaper’s Hebrew edition has several thousand readers in Egypt, presumably Egyptian intelligence operatives trained in Hebrew, while the newspaper is found to be the most cited and most trusted media source by both Palestinian and Israeli supporters.
‘More profound’ than opposition to Gaza conflict
Leaders of Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France say heightened anti-Jewish threats, hate speech and violent attacks in Europe are less attributable to reaction against specific Israeli government policies or issues than previous rises in anti-Jewish sentiment such as during Israel’s three-week Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in 2008 and 2009, when 66 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in France. Crif president Roger Cukierman:
They are not screaming ‘Death to the Israelis’ on the streets of Paris. They are screaming ‘Death to Jews’
Crif vice president Yonathan Arfi on whether the anti-Jewish sentiment is caused by the 2014 Gaza conflict:
They have laid bare something far more profound.
‘Worst times since the Nazi era’
The president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews says anti-Semitic incidents such as hate speech, threats and violent attacks are at their highest level in decades. Central Council of Jews president Dieter Graumann:
On the streets, you hear things like ‘the Jews should be gassed’, ‘the Jews should be burned’ – we haven’t had that in Germany for decades. Anyone saying those slogans isn’t criticising Israeli politics, it’s just pure hatred against Jews: nothing else. And it’s not just a German phenomenon. It’s an outbreak of hatred against Jews so intense that it’s very clear indeed.
He says that by comparison:
These are the worst times since the Nazi era
Agrees to extend ceasefire
Israel agrees to extend the 72-hour Egypt-brokered ceasefire deal beyond its Friday deadline, although it doesn’t specify how long the truce might be extended. There is no immediate comment from Hamas. Israeli official:
Israel has expressed its readiness to extend the truce under its current terms.
Delegations arrive in Cairo
The Israeli delegation arrives in Cairo to begin peace talks. The Israeli team includes Netanyahu aide Yitzhak Molcho, Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad and Yoram Cohen, head of the Israel Security Agency or Shin Bet. Earlier, Khalil al-Haya and Emad al-Alami of Hamas and Khaled al-Batsh of Islamic Jihad have traveled through the Rafah border crossing to Sinai after the Egyptians managed to receive assurances that Israel would not target them. Hamas is presenting a long list of demands including opening border crossings, the re-release of prisoners, and building an airport and seaport, while the two major Israeli objectives are to prevent Hamas rearming in the short term, and demilitarizing Gaza in the longer term, however Islamic Jihad senior representative Ziad al-Nakhaleh says disarming will not be discussed in the indirect negotiations:
This issue is nonnegotiable.
‘Mission accomplished’
The Israel Defense Forces announces that its mission to destroy Hamas’s attack tunnel network is complete:
Mission accomplished: We have destroyed Hamas' tunnels leading from Gaza into Israel. All of Israel is now safer. pic.twitter.com/aDz3XKWdIN
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 5, 2014
Israel: Struck 4,762 targets
The IDF says it has struck around 4,762 targets in the 29 days of Operation Protective Edge prior to the 72-hour ceasefire, most of them rocket-launching sites, nearly 1,000 of them command and control centers, about 240 Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades buildings, nearly 200 weapons storage and manufacturing facilities, nearly 150 terror training compounds and 1,535 additional sites.
Israel: 597 rockets fired from civilian facilities
The IDF says that of 3,365 rockets fired by Hamas in the 29 days of the 2014 Gaza conflict prior to the 72-hour ceasefire, 597 were launched from civilian facilities, approximately 260 were launched from schools, 127 from cemeteries, 160 from religious sites such as mosques, and 50 from hospitals. Just under 70% were fired from the northern Gaza Strip, 12.9% were fired from the central Gaza Strip, and 17.3% were fired from its southern region.
Israel: 3,356 rockets fired
The IDF says that in the 29 days of Operation Protective Edge prior to the 72-hour ceasefire, Hamas fired 3,356 rockets at Israel, 2,303 of which hit Israeli territory, 116 in populated areas, while 356 were intended to target IDF forces operating in the Gaza Strip. A total of 578 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile-defense system, and 475 landed within the Gaza Strip. Military statement:
Prior to the operation, the IDF estimated the Gaza rocket arsenal at approximately 10,000, one-third of which were fired at Israel, and an additional one-third was demolished by the IDF.
Destroyed 32 tunnels worth $100 million
The Israel Defense Forces calculates it has destroyed 32 cross-border tunnels in the 29 days of Operation Protective Edge prior to the ceasefire. It says 14 of them crossed into Israel and two had shafts located 300-500 meters from Israel, while 11 of the 64 IDF soldiers who died in the conflict were killed by Hamas gunmen emerging from the tunnels into southern Israel. IDF Lt. Col. Peter Lerner:
They were part of a strategic plan of Hamas, and an investment of approximately $100 million worth of materials, and we have now removed that threat
Gallup: Americans support Israel 42-38
Gallup notes in a poll that 42% of Americans say Israel’s actions against Hamas are justified compared with 38% who say they are unjustified and 21% who are unsure, while only 14% say Hamas’ actions are justified. The results are similar to what Gallup measured for another period of heightened Israeli-Palestinian violence in 2002. It says Americans have generally disregarded the more vivid images of the conflict available via cable news and social media compared with 2002 when forming an opinion:
This suggests that Americans may have responded to both crises in ways that reflect their basic attitudes toward Israel and the Palestinians rather than the specifics of either conflict. In general, Americans rate Israel much more favorably as a country than the Palestinian Territories, and are much more likely to say they sympathize with the Israelis than the Palestinians when asked to choose between the two sides.
Americans remain ‘roughly divided’ on their support of Israeli actions against Hamas, however:
it is important to note that the pro-Israel sentiment on this measure is significantly below the percentage who routinely say that their sympathies are more broadly with the Israelis rather than the Palestinians in the Middle East.
1,867 Palestinian, 67 Israeli deaths in 29 days
At least 1,867 Palestinians have died in the 29 days of the 2014 Gaza conflict prior to the latest ceasefire and peace talks getting underway. In Israel, 64 soldiers and three civilians are dead. The United Nations and Gaza human rights groups say that at least 75% of the Palestinians killed are civilians, however Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner says that about 900 were militants, while the IDF separately estimates that between 750 and 1,000 of the Palestinian dead were combatants.
‘Just like Hitler’
Turkey’s Prime Minister says Israel deliberately kills Palestinian civilians and that its military actions are comparable with the eugenics policies of the Nazis. Erdogan at the Istanbul Arena:
Just like Hitler, who sought to establish a race free of all faults, Israel is chasing after the same target. They kill women so that they will not give birth to Palestinians; they kill babies so that they won’t grow up; they kill men so they can’t defend their country […] They will drown in the blood they shed.
Protestors ‘riot’ in old Jerusalem
At least a dozen protestors are arrested and five police injured as firecrackers, rocks and Molotov cocktails are thrown by protestors in two days of rioting at the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, in connection with the fast day of Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av on the Jewish calendar when it is customary to mourn the destruction of the first and second Jewish temples. The Temple Mount is open to visitors after security forces push the protestors back into the Al Aqsa mosque and implement extra security measures.
Visits on the Temple Mount continue as normal after police disperse Arab rioters. Extra security measures in old city today for jewish fast.
— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) August 5, 2014
Thousands mourn Rabbi
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews line the streets to mourn 29-year-old Rabbi Avraham Walles of the Mea Shearim neighbourhood of Jerusalem after he is killed in an apparent terror attack by an excavator at a construction site where he is working as a religious instructor. He is survived by his wife and five children.
Excavator attack nearly ‘much more serious’
Israeli authorities say the excavator attack that killed Rabbi Avraham Walles and wounded six others is nationalistically motivated and connected to the 2014 Gaza conflict, and that a quick response by security officials on the scene is the only factor that prevented more casualties. Ariel Tuito of the Nachshon unit of the Israel Prison Service is among security personnel that respond at the scene, and fires the fatal shot. Jerusalem police chief Yossi Pariente says that the response…
…averted a much more serious incident.
Excavator attack kills rabbi
In what is officially described as a terror attack, an excavator driven by Muhammed Naif El-Ja’abis, a 23-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, strikes and kills 29-year-old Rabbi Avraham Walles of Mea Shearim. Walles – also transliterated Walz and Wallis – is working for the Atra Kadisha organization as a mashgiach religious instructor overseeing the construction site on Shmuel Hanavi close to the Olive Tree Hotel in central Jerusalem, near the divide between the city’s east and west, to make sure that any graves found at the site are not disturbed. The excavator continues for several hundred meters before ramming into a mostly empty passenger bus and overturning it after several attempts, and then clawing at it with the excavator arm. Security forces at the scene, including police, respond and officer Ariel Tuito of the Nachshon unit of the Israel Prison Service fires a fatal shot, ending the attack with also leaves a total of six people injured, including the bus driver. The attack takes place near the Mir Yeshiva, one of the country’s biggest religious institutions, shortly after thousands of yeshiva students are dismissed from class early to prepare for the fast of Tisha Be’av, the ninth day of the month of Av when observant Jews mourn the destruction of two Jewish temples. The bus stop is normally crowded with yeshiva students. Walles is a member of the ultra-Orthodox Toldot Aharon Hassidic stream. A witness identified as Yossi, who lives near the site:
[Wallis was] working all day here as an inspector for Atra Kadisha, tending to the sites at which Arab workers were digging in places where there were graves. One of the neighbors, who witnessed the scene, saw that at a certain point the driver of the tractor turned the bucket towards him and hit him with it. I myself saw the incident from outside. I heard the shots and saw the police run into the construction site
