Smoke rises from explosions caused by an Israeli missile strike in the Shijaiyah... Read More
Diplomatic efforts to end two weeks of Gaza Strip
fighting intensified after battles killed dozens of Palestinians and 13
Israeli soldiers in the conflict’s bloodiest single day. The Palestinian death tally surpassed 500 as fighting across Gaza claimed dozens more lives, Al Jazeera television reported, citing the Gaza Health Ministry. Twenty Israelis, including two civilians, have also died. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon suggested the ground offensive, which has exacted all the combat casualties since it began July 17, may wind down, saying it was close to achieving its goals.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to arrive in Egypt today to prod truce efforts. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is already in the Mideast, conferring with regional leaders.
President Barack Obama, in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “raised serious concern” about growing civilian and military casualties in Gaza, the White House said in an account of the call provided to reporters.
Israel’s benchmark TA-25 index for stocks rose 0.1 percent at 12:26 p.m. in Tel Aviv. The shekel strengthened 0.2 percent to 3.4229 per dollar.
Eighty-seven Palestinians were killed yesterday, including 60 who died in Israeli artillery and tank fire in the Shuja’iya neighborhood of Gaza City, according to Health Ministry officials.
Palestinian medics evacuate an injured girl from Gaza's Shuja’iya district on July 20, 2014.
‘Doomsday’
“It was like doomsday,” Hanadi al-Kabariti, 33, said by phone after she fled Shuja’iya. “There is nowhere to hide in Gaza. It’s dangerous wherever you go.”The Israeli military lost more soldiers yesterday than it did in its entire three-week war in Gaza in 2009.
Kerry will seek a return to a 2012 truce Egypt brokered, Obama told Netanyahu, according to the White House. That accord held out the possibility of easing Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza.
Hamas has demanded an end to all restrictions in any future truce. Israel has called for a demilitarization of Gaza and has claimed good progress in diminishing the militants’ rocket capabilities and crippling a network of tunnels they built to carry out cross-border raids.
Destroy Tunnels
Israel’s stated objective of the ground war is to destroy the infiltration tunnels. Two militant squads entered Israel today through underground passages, the military said. One was hit by air and ground troops killed 10 militants in a gun battle with the second group, it said.“I hope people don’t turn on the government,” said Joshua Baskin, 37, a U.S. army veteran living in Israel. “I don’t want people to change their minds on the ground invasion because the army has to do its job to keep citizens safe.”
The “lion’s share” of the tunnels will be destroyed within two to three days, Defense Minister Ya’alon said yesterday at a news conference with Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, the first such timetable that’s been given.
Netanyahu and his defense minister “would like this to be a limited ground offensive that achieves its goals quickly, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to turn out that way,” said Shlomo Brom, a former general and senior fellow at the Institute of National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.
“There are a lot of variables that have to be considered, such as surprises from the other side and international pressure for a cease-fire before you can say most of the tunnels will be destroyed,” Brom said.
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