Sunday Times 2
Fresh bloodshed in Gaza as Hamas denies holding soldier
View(s):GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Aug 2 (AFP) -A fresh wave of violence killed dozens in Gaza after the collapse of a UN and US backed ceasefire, officials said today, as Hamas denied it kidnapped an Israeli soldier.
A Palestinian delegation was due to arrive in Cairo for talks on the terms of a durable truce, however, even after the 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire fell apart within hours starting on Friday.
An Israeli soldier carries a shell at a mobile artillery unit while it fires towards the Gaza Strip August 1, 2014. Israel declared a Gaza ceasefire over on Friday and killed more than 50 Palestinians in renewed shelling, saying militants had breached the truce shortly after it began and apparently captured an Israeli soldier (Reuters)
But the chances of a new truce seemed remote after Israel said it believed militants captured Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, 23, in an attack near the southern Gaza city of Rafah that killed two other soldiers.
In the violence that ensued, at least 107 Palestinians were killed in Israel air strikes on the Gaza Strip, including 35 since midnight, officials said.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, a member of Israel’s security cabinet which met till the early hours of Saturday, accused Hamas of being behind the soldier’s disappearance and said the group would pay a high price.
US President Barack Obama called for the soldier to be “unconditionally” released, but also said more must be done to protect Gaza civilians.
But Hamas’ armed wing denied any knowledge about the fate of the missing soldier.
“The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades has no information on this soldier. We have lost contact with one of our combatant groups, which was fighting in the sector where the soldier went missing and it is possible that our fighters and this soldier were killed,” it said.
Today, AFP correspondents said Israeli aerial strikes targeted a mosque at Jabalia, in northern Gaza, and flattened houses in a beachside neighbourhood.
In Israel, the Iron Dome air defence system intercepted two rockets fired from Gaza over the Tel Aviv area and another over the southern city of Beersheba, the army said.
The Qassam Brigades said they had fired three rockets at Tel Aviv.
US Congress approves Israel funds
The US Congress had meanwhile on Friday approved an emergency $225 million to restock the Iron Dome systems with interceptor missiles, in a measure that awaits Obama’s signature.
Palestinian emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said at least 107 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza since the planned three-day ceasefire collapsed soon after it started at 0500 GMT on Friday.
Since the conflict broke out on July 8, a total of about 1,650 Palestinians have been killed in the violence, the vast majority of them civilians, Qudra said. On the Israeli side, 63 soldiers and three civilians have died.
The Israeli military said the two latest deaths among its forces occurred in the same incident in which the soldier went missing near Rafah.
“Our initial indications suggest a soldier has been abducted by terrorists in an incident where terrorists breached the ceasefire,” said spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner.
Cairo talks ‘still on’
US Secretary of State John Kerry had said that once the ceasefire was under way, Israeli and Palestinian representatives, including from Hamas, would begin talks in Cairo on a more durable truce.
The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad later said Egypt was postponing the talks after news of the missing Israeli soldier, but Cairo said the invitation to talk was “still in place”.
And Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said a joint delegation, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, would travel to Cairo today or talks despite the renewed fighting.