According to a report this morning in Arabic newspaper Al Hayat, there has been a breakthrough in the past twenty-four hours in contacts over a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. Channel 2 News reports that Hamas's position is now closer to the Egyptian initiative, according to which all the terrorist organizations will first cease firing, and then negotiations will take place on an easing of the blockade on the Gaza Strip. The fear in Israel is that until a cease-fire comes into force, if this happens, the terrorist organizations will redouble their efforts to carry out a large attack that will help them portray themselves as victors.
Five IDF soldiers were killed last night in an incident in which terrorists infiltrated into Israel close to Kibbutz Nahal Oz on the border with the Gaza Strip. The terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli position, killing five of the men inside. They tried to seize the body of one of the soldiers but failed. One terrorist was hit by return fire and the rest fled. Residents of the area were told to remain in their homes for several hours for fear that that the terrorists were still at large on Israeli territory. Five more soldiers were killed yesterday in other incidents in the Gaza Strip and on the border. The number of IDF personnel killed in Operation Protective Edge so far has thus risen to 53.
Rocket fire at Israel continued last night. For the first time, Hamas fired a rocket salvo at the Gush Dan area, which includes Tel Aviv, in the middle of the night. The Iron Dome system intercepted one rocket over Gush Dan. Sirens also sounded in Rosh Ha'ayin, Ashdod, Yavne, Ramla, Gedera, Kiryat Malachi, and in other settlements on the coastal plain and in the south of Israel. There are no reports of casualties or damage. There were sirens all night in the settlements bordering the Gaza Strip.
The IDF continued to attack targets in the Gaza Strip overnight. The Ministry of the Interior in Gaza reports that the home of Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh in the Al-Shati refugee camp was bombed. Haniyeh's son said that the house was unoccupied at the time.
In a statement last night, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid tribute to the soldiers who died in yesterday's fighting. "There is no more just war than this one that our heroic sons are fighting," he said.
Netanyahu stressed terrorist tunnels as the main focus of the Israeli operation. "We will not complete the mission, we will not complete the operation, without neutralizing the tunnels, the sole purpose of which is the destruction of our civilians and the killing of our children. This is the clear and unequivocal objective of the State of Israel and the need for it has been apparent again today," he said, adding, "The operation against the tunnels is a first and necessary step in the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. The process of preventing the arming of the terrorist organization and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip must be part of any solution. The international community needs to demand this explicitly. Instead of the international community allowing funds to enter the Gaza Strip, via Hamas, for concrete and cement to serve in the unlimited construction of tunnels, there must be monitoring and supervision."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 29, 2014
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