Israel declared a Gaza ceasefire over yesterday, saying Hamas militants breached the truce soon after it came into effect and apparently captured an Israeli officer while killing two other soldiers.
Renewed Israeli shelling killed more than 50 Palestinians and wounded some 220, hospital officials said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his security cabinet into special session and publicly warned Hamas and other militant groups they would “bear the consequences of their actions”.
Out of a tunnel access point, terrorists came out of the ground
The 72-hour break announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was the most ambitious attempt so far to end more than three weeks of fighting, and followed mounting international alarm over a rising Palestinian civilian death toll.
Kerry called on Hamas, which has neither confirmed nor denied it is holding the soldier, to release him immediately and unconditionally.
He said he had asked Qatar, which is close to Hamas, and Turkey to help free him.
“We have urged them, implored them, to use their influence to do whatever they can to get that soldier returned,” a senior State Department official told reporters travelling with Kerry.
“Absent that, the risk of this continuing to escalate, leading to further loss of life is very high.”
Ban condemned Hamas’s reported violation of the ceasefire and demanded the release of the soldier. The ceasefire, which began at 8am, had prompted Palestinian families to trek back to battle-devastated neighbourhoods where rows of homes have been reduced to rubble.
It was to be followed by Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Cairo on a longer-term solution.
A senior Egyptian Foreign Ministry official said the talks would start tomorrow, and that Cairo “expects the two sides to cease fire before the launch of negotiations”.
The Israeli military said that 90 minutes into the truce, militants attacked soldiers searching for tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip used to infiltrate fighters into Israel.
“Out of a tunnel access point or several, terrorists came out of the ground. At least one was a suicide terrorist who detonated himself. There was an exchange of fire,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, a military spokesman. Two of the soldiers were killed.
“The initial indication suggests that a soldier has been abducted by terrorists during the incident,” he told reporters. Mark Regev, a Netanyahu spokesman, said Hamas was responsible for the attack. Asked if the ceasefire was over, Lerner replied: “Yes. We are continuing our activities on the ground.”