I/II. http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/08/01/mideast-gaza-ceasefire-israel-idINKBN0G12UB20140801
Israel declares Gaza truce over, 50 die in Gaza shelling By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller GAZA/JERUSALEM Fri Aug 1, 2014 5:56pm IST 1 of 6. Smoke and flames are seen following what witnesses said were Israeli air strikes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 1, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (Reuters) - 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. The 72-hour break announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was the most ambitious attempt so far to end more than three weeks of fighting, and followed mounting international alarm over a rising Palestinian civilian death toll. The ceasefire was to be followed by Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Cairo on a longer-term solution. Egyptian officials said the invitation still stood, but some Palestinian representatives had asked for a postponement until Saturday or Sunday to allow a new truce to be reached. The Israeli military said that ***90 minutes into the truce*** [emphasis added] - as Palestinian families who had fled neighbourhoods that had been turned into battlefields began to trek home - militants attacked soldiers searching for infiltration tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip. "Out of a tunnel access point or several, terrorists came out of the ground. At least one was a suicide terrorist who detonated himself. There was an exchange of fire," said Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, a military spokesman. Two of the soldiers were killed. "The initial indication suggests that a soldier has been abducted by terrorists during the incident," he said in a conference call with reporters. Asked if the ceasefire was over, Lerner replied: "Yes. We are continuing our activities on the ground." He said Israeli forces were mounting an "extensive effort" to locate the soldier. The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 50 people were killed and 220 wounded by Israeli shelling after the incident near the southern town of Rafah. WARREN OF TUNNELS The truce had left Israeli ground forces in place in the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip and a military spokeswoman had said operations would continue to destroy a warren of tunnels through which the Islamist group has menaced Israel's southern towns and army bases. There was no immediate word from militant groups on whether any were holding the soldier, identified by the military as Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, 23. Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the dominant Hamas movement in Gaza, said Israel was trying to mislead the world and "cover up its Rafah massacre". Israel launched its offensive in Gaza on July 8, unleashing air and naval bombardments in response to a surge of cross-border rocket attacks. Tanks and infantry pushed into the territory of 1.8 million on July 17. Gaza officials say at least ***1,509 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed*** and 7,000 wounded. Sixty-three Israeli soldiers have been killed and more than 400 hurt. ***Three civilians have been killed by Palestinian rockets in Israel***. [Emphases added.] Eight rockets and mortar bombs were fired from Gaza at Israel after the ceasefire began, the military said, adding that one was intercepted by the Iron Dome system and seven hit open areas. Amid strong public support in Israel for the Gaza campaign, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had faced intense pressure from abroad to stand his forces down. International calls for an end to the bloodshed intensified after shelling on Wednesday that killed 15 people sheltering in a U.N.-run school in Gaza's Jabalya refugee camp. CAIRO NEGOTIATIONS Hamas, isolated in an Arab world concerned about the rise Islamist militancy, is seeking an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza. It also wants a hostile Egypt to ease restrictions at its Rafah crossing with the territory imposed after the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last July. Israel has balked at freeing up Gaza's borders under any de-escalation deal unless Hamas's disarmament is also guaranteed. A senior State Department official travelling with Kerry in India had said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns would arrive in Cairo on Saturday and that Frank Lowenstein, the acting U.S envoy for Middle East peace, and another U.S. official, Jonathan Schwartz, would be there on Friday. Speaking before the renewed fighting, the official said he believed the Palestinians would be in Cairo on Friday, while the Israelis would arrive on Saturday. After the truce collapsed, two Egyptian officials said there had been no official cancellation of Cairo's request for the negotiators to come. The Palestinian delegation would be comprised of Hamas, Western-backed Fatah, the Islamic Jihad militant group and a number of smaller factions, Palestinian officials said. But U.S. officials said Israel and the United States would not sit across the table from Hamas, which the two countries, along with the European Union, consider a terrorist group. (Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, David Brunnstrom in New Delhi; Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; and Omar Fahmy in Cairo; Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Giles Elgood) II. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/un-us-announce-72-hour-gaza-ceasefire-2014731214037997737.html Hamas and Israel agree 72-hour Gaza ceasefire UN and US announce two sides agree humanitarian truce to begin on Friday morning and indirect talks to be held in Cairo. Last updated: 01 Aug 2014 05:02 The UN and the US have announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed to an unconditional 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire to begin on Friday morning. In a joint statement, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and United States Secretary of State John Kerry said the two sides would cease fire at 8am local time (05:00 GMT) and talks would be held in Cairo. A senior US State Department official said the Gaza talks could start as early as Friday, depending on how long it takes the parties to reach Cairo. The official said representatives from Israel and the US will not sit across the table from Hamas in Cairo. The joint UN-US statement said: "This ceasefire is critical to giving innocent civilians a much-needed reprieve from violence. "During this period, civilians in Gaza will receive urgently needed humanitarian relief, and the opportunity to carry out vital functions, including burying the dead, taking care of the injured, and restocking food supplies. "Overdue repairs on essential water and energy infrastructure could also continue during this period. "Israeli and Palestinian delegations will immediately be going to Cairo for negotiations with the government of Egypt, at the invitation of Egypt, aimed at reaching a durable ceasefire. "The parties will be able to raise all issues of concern in these negotiations." Diplomatic background Speaking during a visit to New Delhi, the Indian capital, Kerry called the ceasefire "precious time". "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," he told journalists. Discussing the background to the ceasefire at a briefing in New Delhi, a senior US State Department official said: "We identified early on in this process that getting a ceasefire would require co-ordinating with countries that had relations and influence - relations with and influence over Hamas, and would be able to both convey a message quickly and receive a response in short order. "And dozens of times over the last week to ten days, we were conveying messages through the Qataris and the Turks, and that proved a very important part of getting this humanitarian ceasefire established." Speaking to Al Jazeera following the announcement of the ceasefire, Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said: "It's not our duty to protect Israel or be a guardian of Israel's security. "But, at this time, all of the Palestinian resistance movements have declared and approved the ceasefire for 72 hours, so I think they respect that and [will] be committed to their declaration." As of late Thursday, Gaza's ministry of health put the death toll of Palestinians at 1,444, with more than 8,350 wounded. Sixty-four Israelis, nearly all of them soldiers, have died since Israel launched its offensive against Gaza on July 8. The Israeli army said five of its soldiers were killed from mortar fire late on Thursday along the border of the besieged Gaza Strip. Humanitarian crisis Earlier on Thursday, the US said there was "little doubt" Israeli bombs killed 19 people at a UN shelter in Gaza on Wednesday, in its strongest condemnation yet of Israeli attacks on civilians in the Palestinian enclave. Gaza residents testify about the effects Israel and Egypt's blockade of their land has had on their lives. White House spokesman Josh Earnest, said on Thursday that the shelling of the school in Jabaliya was "totally indefensible". Earlier on Thursday, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had said his country was determined, regardless of ceasefire efforts, to complete the destruction of tunnels that Palestinian fighters have built under the Gaza-Israel border. "Until now, we have destroyed dozens of terror tunnels and we are determined to finish this mission - with or without a ceasefire," he said. The UN's top rights and refugee officials condemned Israel's bombardment of Gaza and warned of a major humanitarian crisis with at least 440,000 people having fled their homes. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
