Fighting in Gaza continued with renewed ferocity after the 72-hour truce was broken just two hours after it went into effect. Israeli forces shelled the town of Rafah in retaliation for a missing soldier and two dead. U.S. President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials did not directly blame Hamas for the abduction of 23-year-old Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, however Hamas is held responsible for having influence over the actions of factions in the Gaza Strip.
Early this morning, Israel launched dozens more airstrikes in the southern Gaza strip in its large-scale offensive. A Palestinian health official says that another 35 Palestinians were killed in the shelling that took place around the city of Rafah. The hospital was evacuated as a result of the strikes.
Mr. Obama urged Hamas to do all it can to procure the soldier’s release. “It’s going to be very hard to put a ceasefire back together again if Israelis and the international community can’t feel confident that Hamas can follow through on a ceasefire commitment,” said the U.S. president, however his comment reflected uncertainty in the U.S. if Hamas was actually responsible for the kidnapping or if some other militant group was to blame.
The situation, according to Mr. Obama, is “heartbreaking” due to the Palestinian civilian casualties caught in the crossfire.
Despite the ending of the truce, Mr. Obama credited U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the United Nations for brokering the agreement, adding that efforts would continue despite the setback.
On his part, Mr. Kerry released a statement condemning the attack “in the strongest possible terms.” He said that it would be a “tragedy if this outrageous attack leads to more suffering and loss of life on both sides of this conflict.”
According to an aide aboard the Air Force plane carrying Mr. Kerry when he learned of the attack, the secretary of state immediately started calling diplomats around the middle East. He spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with foreign ministers from Qatar and Turkey, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He also conferred with U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was reportedly “profoundly disappointed” that Hamas didn’t keep its assurances though he also noted that the U.N. was unable to verify exactly what happened. He expressed concern that another 50 Palestinian civilians had been killed in the Israeli operations of Friday morning.
Since Friday morning, over 100 Palestinians have been killed in the Rafah area – including 35 this morning. There have been 77 Israeli airstrikes and heavy shelling.
On its part, the Hamas military wing this morning distanced itself from the young soldier’s abduction. In a statement on its website Hamas wrote that it is not aware of the missing soldiers nor the circumstances of its disappearance. The statement adds that the soldier may have been killed an hour prior to the ceasefire, adding that it lost contact with Hamas fighters in the region prior to the start of the truce.
The Israeli side did not comment on the Hamas statement.
Both sides are blaming each other for the shattered truce. During the clashes there have been more than 1,650 Palestinian deaths of mainly civilians and over 8,000 wounded. Israel’s tally includes the death of 63 soldiers and three civilians.
Since the start of the July 8 offensive, there have been four brief humanitarian ceasefires – each broken within a few hours after being implemented.
Scenes of catastrophe…
The missing soldier – Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin went missing in an ambush that left another two soldiers dead. He is believed to be the third cousin of Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, and was reportedly freshly engaged. He was initially rumored to be a British Israeli but the British Foreign Office has no information regarding this, though he is believed to have lived several years in Cambridge with his twin brother.
Palestinians duck for cover in the shelling…
Searching through the rubble to find their belongings…
