http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/18/gaza-ceasefire-expires-israel-hamas Gaza ceasefire expires at midnight with deal to end conflict yet to be reached Israeli delegation still pushing for demilitarisation of strip but hoping for extension to truce with Hamas, says military official
- Orlando Crowcroft <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/orlando-cowcroft> in Jerusalem - theguardian.com <http://www.theguardian.com/>, Monday 18 August 2014 11.27 BST Palestinians walk past the rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza City during the five-week long conflict. Photograph: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images The five-day ceasefire between Israel <http://www.theguardian.com/world/israel> and Palestinian militants in the Gaza <http://www.theguardian.com/world/gaza> Strip expires at midnight, with no firm indications that Egyptian mediators in Cairo have succeeded in securing a deal to end the five-week conflict. The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu <http://www.theguardian.com/world/binyamin-netanyahu>, said on Sunday that Hamas <http://www.theguardian.com/world/hamas> should not expect to achieve a diplomatic victory out of the war, which has left almost 2,000 Palestinians - many of them civilians - 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians dead. "From the first day, the Israeli delegation to Cairo has worked under clear instructions: insist on the security needs of the state of Israel. Only if there is a clear response to our security needs will we agree to reach understandings," he said. A military official told the Guardian on Monday that the Israeli delegation was still pushing for action on the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, a divisive issue as Hamas and Islamic Jihad have repeatedly ruled out giving up their weapons. But he added that the delegation was hoping for an extension to the ceasefire later on Monday, and that Israel would be content for the time being for an "exchange of quietness for quietness". Palestinian sources in Cairo also suggested to the Haaretz newspaper that there was a general appetite for the truce to continue, saying that the conflict was "being talked about in the past tense". On Sunday, Israel extended a safe zone to three miles for Gazan fisherman working in the waters off the Gaza coast in an apparent concession to Hamas, which has insisted that the seven-year blockade of the strip is lifted. But there were signs on Monday that Israel was also bracing itself for rocket fire once the ceasefire ends, with reports that trains between the southern city of Ashkelon and the border town of Sderot had been cancelled. Overnight in the West Bank, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) levelled the Hebron homes of two men suspected of kidnapping and killing three Israeli teenagers in June <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/30/bodies-missing-israeli-teenagers-found-west-bank>, and sealed the house of a third man suspected of being involved. The man believed to have planned the kidnapping, Hussam Qawasme, has been held by Israel since July while two others, Marwan Qawasme and Amer Abu Aysha are still on the run. The bodies of Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Sha'er and Naftali Frankel were found in a shallow grave outside Hebron in July, the first in a string of events that led to the conflict in Gaza. -- 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.
