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Day 21 – 5 Soldiers Killed; Netanyahu: Ceasefire Favors Hamas; Infiltration Thwarted

by TheTower.org Staff |

Today was the twenty-first day of Operation Protective Edge and the tenth day of ground operations in Gaza.

A soldier identified as Staff Sgt. Moshe Davino, 20, from Jerusalem, was killed in a gun battle in the southern Gaza Strip today. Combined with the four soldiers killed in mortar attack earlier in the day, five soldiers were killed today, bringing the death toll to 48.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon today and rejected the UN Security Council’s call for an immediate ceasefire. Netanyahu told Ban that the ceasefire call “relates to the needs of a murderous terrorist group that attacks Israeli civilians and has no answer for Israel’s security needs.”

An tunnel-borne infiltration was detected inside Israel and repelled; the army confirmed that one terrorist was killed. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades claimed that it had conducted a raid “behind enemy lines,” but denied that any of its operatives were killed.

Amos Yadlin, former chief of military intelligence and currently head of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, spoke on a conference call today hosted by The Israel Project. (The Israel Project publishes The Tower) In his remarks, Yadlin asserted that Hamas would never disarm voluntarily: “[E]ven if they will be beaten hardly, to ask Hamas to demilitarize Gaza, is like asking a priest to convert to Judaism.”

The Palestinian Authority criticized Secretary of State John Kerry’s abortive attempt to fashion a ceasefire based on the demands of Hamas’ sponsors Qatar and Turkey, accusing him of attempting “to destroy the Egyptian” ceasefire plan.

More generally, a number of Israeli analysts were baffled by Kerry’s actions which, in the words of one of them, “put wind in the sails of Hamas’ … leader Khaled Meshal.”

In the afternoon, four Israelis – later identified as soldiers – were killed in the Eshkol region when they were struck by a mortar fired from Gaza.

This evening in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Army Chief of Staff Benny Gantz announced that they would continue the operations until Hamas’ tunnels are destroyed. Netanyahu said that Israeli could no longer tolerate being threatened by “death form above and death from below,” referring to Hamas’ arsenal of rockets and network of tunnels.

IHH, a Turkish charity with suspected terror ties, announced that it is planning a repeat of its 2010 attempt to run Israel’s blockade of Gaza. They are now threatening to be accompanied by “Turkish army troops.”

The Telegraph reported that Hamas is looking to North Korea to resupply its arsenal, which has been degraded in its war with Israel. According to the report, Hamas has already made a down payment on the weapons.

[Photo: idfnadesk / YouTube ]

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