Hamas denies capturing Israeli soldier

Hamas has acknowledged on Saturday his responsibility in the ambush on Friday in which an Israeli soldier was captured, but said the attack preceded the onset of humanitarian truce that took effect early Friday morning and lasted just hour and a half of the 72 planned, so as the Islamist group, did not violate the ceasefire sponsored by the U.S. and the UN.

With this release, written in Arabic and English, the armed wing of Hamas, the Al Qassam brigades,  try to step out of the allegations of the international community by the collapse of the ceasefire. This Friday, the White House and United Nations accused Hamas of violating the truce.

But in a sign that the Operating Margin Protector, in force since July 8, could be close to an end to Israeli military sources have said on Saturday that its objectives – essentially destroying tunnels dug by Hamas – are about to be reached.

In this regard, the Army has told the Palestinians who fled their homes in Beit Lahia (northern Gaza, 70,000) that can return to them, implying that its offensive in the area has been completed. ” Residents have been advised of the presence of explosives planted by Hamas in the city,” said military sources.

In parallel, several Palestinians have assured Agence France Presse having found a withdrawal of the Israeli army near Khan Younis villages south of the Palestinian enclave.

The ambush Friday made humanitarian truce collapse occurred at half past nine -90 minutes after the start of the ceasefire, when a command militiamen emerged from a tunnel in southern Gaza to ambush a Israeli infantry patrol . Palestinians killed two Israeli soldiers and captured another, Lt. Hadar Goldin, who allegedly dragged into the tunnel.

The ambush was followed by intense Israeli shelling in Rafah (southern Gaza) from mid-morning on Friday, which have killed about 150 Palestinians and annul the decision by the Israeli government. Hamas claims not to know what happened to Lieutenant Goldin, but underlines the statement of its armed wing, being caught, would have died in the fire that followed the ambush. Citing an internal investigation hampered by the inability to contact his militia in the area, Al Qassam Brigades said today that believe that the ambush took place at seven o’clock on Friday in response to the advance of the Israeli infantry.

At noon on Saturday, the death toll on the Palestinian side amounted to 1,654, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The UN has managed to establish the identity of 1,117 dead, the vast majority of them civilians (926, 83%). Unicef has posted at least 296 children dead. Israel has lost 63 soldiers and three civilians, one of them a Thai worker. Until Saturday they had fallen into Israeli territory 3,032 rockets fired from Gaza.

The UN says 280,000 people have taken refuge in their centers and other local authorities, ie, 15% of the Gaza population of 1.8 million people.

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Posted by Jamshed Sindhu on Aug 3 2014. Filed under Middle East. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.