Gaza Strip: Israel winds down offensive

The Israeli military confirmed early Sunday morning that the Israeli soldier thought to have been abducted by Palestinian militants on Friday, is dead. The circumstances of his death remain cloudy and he had either been killed in battle during Israeli Defence Force (IDF) strikes or by a suicide bomber. Confirmation of his death came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyu pledged to continue the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

An IDF statement said: “A special committee led by the IDF Chief Rabbi, announced the death of the IDF infantry officer of the Givati Brigade, Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, who was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip on Friday, August 1, 2014.”

Mr. Netanyahu is under fierce international pressure to stop its offensive as the death toll climbs to 1,675 Palestinian deaths, many of these being women and children. The world’s media has been inundated by gruesome images of crumbled homes, mosques and schools prompting cries for the tragedy to stop.

Within Israel, Mr. Netanyau is under political pressure to crush Hamas and continue the offensive. He fired Israel’s former defense ministry Danny Danon for public criticism in comments yesterday saying “the cabinet is gravely mistaken in its decision to withdraw forces from Gaza. This is a step in the wrong direction.”

The Israeli media reports that the IDF is withdrawing from urban areas of the Gaza Strip and that the mission of destroying the tunnels of the Palestinian resistance will be complete within the next 24 hours. Much of the IDF’s ground forces’ efforts have been concentrated underground, with the tunnel threat revealing the limitations of air strikes. More than 30 tunnels and dozens of access shafts have been unearthed and blown up.

Live footage on Israeli TV showed some tanks withdrawing from Gaza and an apparent winding down of the 26-day campaign.

Egypt Peace Talks

A Palestinian delegation has arrived in Egypt for a new round of peace talks, however Israel has decided not to send a delegation to the talks as it doesn’t wish to get caught up in another talk about a ceasefire with Hamas.

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi gave a TV interview stating that Hamas cannot be trusted to keep their word and that a ceasefire for the group would mean “acknowledging the worst possible defeat.”

Israel said Palestinians yesterday launched 86 rockets over the border, most of which missed their intended targets while seven were shot down by its Iron Dome Interceptor.

International Outrage

The U.S. and the U.N. appeared to support Israel’s view that the actions of Hamas had violated the ceasefire, however there has been a rise in anti-semitism prompted by the suffering caused to civilians. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told the Daily Telegraph that he had received thousands of e-mails from British people deeply disturbed by the IDF’s operations against Hamas.

“The British public has a strong sense that the situation of the civilian population in Gaza is intolerable and must be addressed and we agree with them,” said Mr. Hammond who called for an immediate unconditional ceasefire. “We have to get the killing to stop.”

The Community Security Trust in the U.K. said that there had been 130 anti-semitic incidents in July, the second highest monthly total on record. On Thursday, a group that advises Britain’s 260,000 Jews on security matters said that anti-semitic incidents in Britain had risen.