26 july 2014
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) violated the humanitarian ceasefire on Saturday morning and fired at Palestinian citizens and ambulance cars while trying to enter Khuza’a town to the east of Khan Younis. Eyewitnesses said that after the 12-hour ceasefire went into effect at 0800 this morning, Palestinian citizens and ambulance cars tried to enter the beleaguered Khuza’a town but were confronted with Israeli bullets, which forced them and the ambulance cars to leave the area.
Citizens questioned the role of the Red Cross that should have coordinated the entry of those ambulance crews to evacuate bodies strewn in the town’s streets and started to decompose.
Palestinian medical teams managed to retrieve the bodies of dozens of victims, who were killed by Israeli gunfire in the border areas.
Around one thousand Palestinians were killed and around six thousand others were wounded in the Israeli air, land, and sea attacks on the Gaza Strip that started 20 days ago.
Citizens questioned the role of the Red Cross that should have coordinated the entry of those ambulance crews to evacuate bodies strewn in the town’s streets and started to decompose.
Palestinian medical teams managed to retrieve the bodies of dozens of victims, who were killed by Israeli gunfire in the border areas.
Around one thousand Palestinians were killed and around six thousand others were wounded in the Israeli air, land, and sea attacks on the Gaza Strip that started 20 days ago.
The alleged kidnapping and murder of three Israeli settlers in late June was the oft-cited reason for Israel’s escalation against the Hamas government in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. But new evidence indicates that Hamas was not responsible at all for the murders, according to reporters who spoke with Israeli police.
The order of events, taking into consideration that Israeli raids of the West Bank and shooting of Gazan fishermen have been daily occurrences for years, began with the disappearance of three Israeli teenagers from a colony built on Palestinian land in the West Bank on June 12th.
For three weeks following, Israeli forces rampaged through the West Bank, abducting legislators, politicians, and virtually anyone who was publicly associated with the political party Hamas (a Palestinian political party whose armed wing has, in the past, claimed responsibility for attacks against both Israeli soldiers and Israeli civilians), taking over 900 people into custody. Hamas officials vehemently denied any connection with the disappearance of the settlers. Palestinian officials challenged the campaign of mass abductions as a violation of international law.
It should be noted that the raids against Hamas officials came within a month after the Palestinian Authority announced the formation of a unity government that included both the more militant Hamas party and the Fateh party, which has long acted as an arm of the Israeli occupation government in the West Bank. Israeli officials had voiced alarm at this development, as it represented a unification between Palestinian factions that had long been divided. The U.S. government had even announced that it would consider working with the unity government (see here and here, raising alarm among Israeli officials who had tried to discredit the Palestinian efforts.
After the teens’ bodies were found on June 30th, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated unequivocally, "They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by animals in human form. Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay../../../” for their disappearance. He did not, however, present any evidence to support this claim. Six weeks later, after the abduction and torturous interrogation of hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, there has still been no evidence presented that shows Hamas involvement – or even the involvement of any Palestinians at all – in the deaths of the three youth.
Indeed, on Friday, July 25th, BBC reporter Jon Donnison published on Twitter a series of statements from a conversation he had with the Israeli police spokesperson, Micky Rosenfeld.
Donnison wrote, “Israeli police MickeyRosenfeld tells me men who killed 3 Israeli teens def[initely] lone cell, Hamas affiliated but not operating under leadership … Seems to contradict the line from Netanyahu government.../../../”
He also wrote that Rosenfeld told him, “Israeli police spokes Mickey Rosenfeld also said if kidnapping had been ordered by Hamas leadership, they'd have known about it in advance.../../../”
In addition to implying that Israel has moles within the leadership of the Hamas party, this statement also draws into question the stated justification for Israel’s offensive into Gaza, which has already claimed up to 1,000 lives.
This is not the first time that Israeli officials have admitted that they do not believe Hamas was behind the disappearance and subsequent deaths of the teens. On June 15th, Sheera Frenkel of Buzzfeed reported, “The kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers was likely carried out by a small group of militants with no direct orders from Hamas, ISIS, or any other regional terror group, said senior Israeli and Palestinian officials Sunday. ‘What we do know, is that this was likely an opportunistic move. The men behind this may have ties to a larger terror group, but this does not have the markings of a well-planned, complex operation,’ one Israeli officer, based in the West Bank, told BuzzFeed. ‘It makes it more difficult to find them if there isn’t a larger trail of intelligence to sniff out.’../../../”
Most analysts familiar with the issue say that the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza has nothing to do with the three teens (or the subsequent increase in Palestinian resistance shelling that followed the Israeli raids and abductions of 800 Hamas-affiliated people in the West Bank), but was meant to challenge the Palestinian Authority’s unity government, and had been planned for months.
It Turns Out Hamas Didn’t Kidnap and Kill the 3 Israeli Teens After All
The order of events, taking into consideration that Israeli raids of the West Bank and shooting of Gazan fishermen have been daily occurrences for years, began with the disappearance of three Israeli teenagers from a colony built on Palestinian land in the West Bank on June 12th.
For three weeks following, Israeli forces rampaged through the West Bank, abducting legislators, politicians, and virtually anyone who was publicly associated with the political party Hamas (a Palestinian political party whose armed wing has, in the past, claimed responsibility for attacks against both Israeli soldiers and Israeli civilians), taking over 900 people into custody. Hamas officials vehemently denied any connection with the disappearance of the settlers. Palestinian officials challenged the campaign of mass abductions as a violation of international law.
It should be noted that the raids against Hamas officials came within a month after the Palestinian Authority announced the formation of a unity government that included both the more militant Hamas party and the Fateh party, which has long acted as an arm of the Israeli occupation government in the West Bank. Israeli officials had voiced alarm at this development, as it represented a unification between Palestinian factions that had long been divided. The U.S. government had even announced that it would consider working with the unity government (see here and here, raising alarm among Israeli officials who had tried to discredit the Palestinian efforts.
After the teens’ bodies were found on June 30th, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated unequivocally, "They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by animals in human form. Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay../../../” for their disappearance. He did not, however, present any evidence to support this claim. Six weeks later, after the abduction and torturous interrogation of hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, there has still been no evidence presented that shows Hamas involvement – or even the involvement of any Palestinians at all – in the deaths of the three youth.
Indeed, on Friday, July 25th, BBC reporter Jon Donnison published on Twitter a series of statements from a conversation he had with the Israeli police spokesperson, Micky Rosenfeld.
Donnison wrote, “Israeli police MickeyRosenfeld tells me men who killed 3 Israeli teens def[initely] lone cell, Hamas affiliated but not operating under leadership … Seems to contradict the line from Netanyahu government.../../../”
He also wrote that Rosenfeld told him, “Israeli police spokes Mickey Rosenfeld also said if kidnapping had been ordered by Hamas leadership, they'd have known about it in advance.../../../”
In addition to implying that Israel has moles within the leadership of the Hamas party, this statement also draws into question the stated justification for Israel’s offensive into Gaza, which has already claimed up to 1,000 lives.
This is not the first time that Israeli officials have admitted that they do not believe Hamas was behind the disappearance and subsequent deaths of the teens. On June 15th, Sheera Frenkel of Buzzfeed reported, “The kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers was likely carried out by a small group of militants with no direct orders from Hamas, ISIS, or any other regional terror group, said senior Israeli and Palestinian officials Sunday. ‘What we do know, is that this was likely an opportunistic move. The men behind this may have ties to a larger terror group, but this does not have the markings of a well-planned, complex operation,’ one Israeli officer, based in the West Bank, told BuzzFeed. ‘It makes it more difficult to find them if there isn’t a larger trail of intelligence to sniff out.’../../../”
Most analysts familiar with the issue say that the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza has nothing to do with the three teens (or the subsequent increase in Palestinian resistance shelling that followed the Israeli raids and abductions of 800 Hamas-affiliated people in the West Bank), but was meant to challenge the Palestinian Authority’s unity government, and had been planned for months.
It Turns Out Hamas Didn’t Kidnap and Kill the 3 Israeli Teens After All
Israeli media reported Saturday that minutes after a temporary humanitarian ceasefire expired, rocket sirens were heard in southern Israel and Gaza militants fired mortar shells across the border.
Mortar shells hit open areas in Eshkol Regional Council, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said on its website.
Additionally, rocket sirens went off in the south of Israel, the report said.
Media had reported earlier that the Israeli cabinet had agreed to extend the ceasefire until midnight, though no formal announcement was made.
It was not initially clear whether Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades and other militant groups in Gaza had agreed to extend the truce.
Mortar shells hit open areas in Eshkol Regional Council, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said on its website.
Additionally, rocket sirens went off in the south of Israel, the report said.
Media had reported earlier that the Israeli cabinet had agreed to extend the ceasefire until midnight, though no formal announcement was made.
It was not initially clear whether Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades and other militant groups in Gaza had agreed to extend the truce.
Israel's security cabinet has approved a four-hour extension of a temporary truce in Gaza, prolonging an initial 12-hour ceasefire until midnight, Israeli television reported on Saturday.
Israel's Channel 10 said the extension had been approved less than two hours before the temporary ceasefire was due to expire.
The decision came after US Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers from Europe and the Middle East urged Israel and the Hamas movement to extend the fragile truce.
"We all call on parties to extend the humanitarian ceasefire," France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters after meeting Kerry and foreign ministers from Britain, Germany, Italy, Qatar and Turkey, as well as an EU representative.
"We all want to obtain a lasting ceasefire as quickly as possible that addresses both Israeli requirements in terms of security and Palestinian requirements in terms of socioeconomic development."
There was no immediate response from Hamas to either that call or to the Israeli cabinet decision.
Israel's Channel 10 said the extension had been approved less than two hours before the temporary ceasefire was due to expire.
The decision came after US Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers from Europe and the Middle East urged Israel and the Hamas movement to extend the fragile truce.
"We all call on parties to extend the humanitarian ceasefire," France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters after meeting Kerry and foreign ministers from Britain, Germany, Italy, Qatar and Turkey, as well as an EU representative.
"We all want to obtain a lasting ceasefire as quickly as possible that addresses both Israeli requirements in terms of security and Palestinian requirements in terms of socioeconomic development."
There was no immediate response from Hamas to either that call or to the Israeli cabinet decision.
Woman grieving the destruction of her home
During the brief halt in Israeli bombardment on Saturday, Palestinian residents and medics have managed to retrieve the bodies of 135 Palestinians, mainly in Shuja’eyya, whose deaths had previously gone unreported because their whereabouts were unknown. Around 7 pm, Israeli officials announced that they would hold off on the resumption of bombardment of Gaza until 11 pm.
The Hamas party in Gaza had called for a ten-year truce with Israel, based on several conditions: that Israel lift the siege on Gaza that began in 2006 and has devastated the Palestinian economy, that Palestinians abducted by Israel since early June be released, and that access to travel to Jerusalem be restored.
These conditions, which are based in international law and are basic human rights under internationally-recognized conventions, have been rejected outright by Israeli authorities, who refused to even consider an extension of the 12-hour ‘temporary ceasefire’ for one week.
The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the French Foreign Minister had pleaded with Israel to extend the ceasefire at least for a few days, but Israeli officials refused.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters, "We all call on parties to extend the humanitarian ceasefire. We all want to obtain a lasting ceasefire as quickly as possible that addresses both Israeli requirements in terms of security and Palestinian requirements in terms of socioeconomic development."
The meeting had included foreign ministers from the US, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Qatar, Turkey, and the EU.
During the 12-hour ceasefire on Saturday, Palestinians returned to Shuja’eyya neighborhood for the first time since a mass exodus on Sunday July 20th to find the neighborhood turned to rubble.
The Israeli forces, for their part, used the twelve-hour cessation of bombing to dig tunnels and trenches, put up barricades and construct sand-bag walls, indicating that they plan an extended offensive in Gaza, and will likely re-start their bombing campaign and invasion as soon as the 11:00 pm deadline hits.
During the brief halt in Israeli bombardment on Saturday, Palestinian residents and medics have managed to retrieve the bodies of 135 Palestinians, mainly in Shuja’eyya, whose deaths had previously gone unreported because their whereabouts were unknown. Around 7 pm, Israeli officials announced that they would hold off on the resumption of bombardment of Gaza until 11 pm.
The Hamas party in Gaza had called for a ten-year truce with Israel, based on several conditions: that Israel lift the siege on Gaza that began in 2006 and has devastated the Palestinian economy, that Palestinians abducted by Israel since early June be released, and that access to travel to Jerusalem be restored.
These conditions, which are based in international law and are basic human rights under internationally-recognized conventions, have been rejected outright by Israeli authorities, who refused to even consider an extension of the 12-hour ‘temporary ceasefire’ for one week.
The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the French Foreign Minister had pleaded with Israel to extend the ceasefire at least for a few days, but Israeli officials refused.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters, "We all call on parties to extend the humanitarian ceasefire. We all want to obtain a lasting ceasefire as quickly as possible that addresses both Israeli requirements in terms of security and Palestinian requirements in terms of socioeconomic development."
The meeting had included foreign ministers from the US, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Qatar, Turkey, and the EU.
During the 12-hour ceasefire on Saturday, Palestinians returned to Shuja’eyya neighborhood for the first time since a mass exodus on Sunday July 20th to find the neighborhood turned to rubble.
The Israeli forces, for their part, used the twelve-hour cessation of bombing to dig tunnels and trenches, put up barricades and construct sand-bag walls, indicating that they plan an extended offensive in Gaza, and will likely re-start their bombing campaign and invasion as soon as the 11:00 pm deadline hits.
The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to over 1,000 on Saturday amid a brief truce, as some 135 bodies were pulled from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli attacks throughout the besieged coastal enclave, medics said.
The bodies were found on the 19th day of Israel's assault on Gaza, during a 12-hour truce in which many Gaza residents picked through the ruins of their homes.
Meanwhile, Israeli TV said that Israel's security cabinet had approved a four-hour extension of the truce, prolonging the ceasefire until midnight.
As the brief period of calm took effect Saturday, survivors began to venture out of their homes to survey what was left, while those who had fled cautiously returned to see what had become of their abandoned houses.
The updated death toll was announced as Israeli officials considered extending the truce even longer, on the condition that the army continue targeting tunnels in Gaza, Israeli media said.
News site Ynet quoted a government source as saying an Israeli cabinet meeting was scheduled to take place at 9:30 pm to discuss the possibility.
It was initially unclear whether Hamas and other factions in Gaza would agree to extend the truce.
So far, Palestinian medical teams have used the ceasefire as an opportunity to recover dead bodies still buried under destroyed buildings.
Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry, said in a statement at 7:00 p.m. that 132 bodies had been recovered so far.
Many of the bodies were pulled from Gaza City's Shujaiyya neighborhood, which has experienced some of the heaviest Israeli shelling and airstrikes throughout the Gaza offensive. At least 70 people were killed in the neighborhood in one night of shelling last Sunday, a bombardment Palestinians have come to call "the Shujaiyya massacre."
Khuzaa in Khan Younis has been heavily targeted as well, but Israeli forces have refused to allow ambulances and search teams to access the village.
An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an that Palestinians in the Khan Younis area had been told to leave their homes days ago and told not to return during the ceasefire, and that therefore rescue teams were "not allowed to search" in parts of the southern Gaza Strip.
More Israeli soldiers announced dead
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said in a statement that the number of soldiers killed during Israel's ground invasion of Gaza had risen to 40.
"Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, 40 IDF (army) officers and soldiers have been killed," the statement said.
The militant wing of the Popular Resistance Committees had announced earlier that their fighters had killed a soldier earlier in the day.
Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades announced Friday that its militants had killed "at least" 10 soldiers with explosives in eastern Beit Hanoun.
Palestinian militant groups have claimed that the Israeli army has yet to announce the deaths of a handful of its troops.
Even taking the army's numbers at face value, the amount of soldiers killed during Israel's current Gaza offensive is the largest military loss the country has faced since its war with Lebanon in 2006.
The bodies were found on the 19th day of Israel's assault on Gaza, during a 12-hour truce in which many Gaza residents picked through the ruins of their homes.
Meanwhile, Israeli TV said that Israel's security cabinet had approved a four-hour extension of the truce, prolonging the ceasefire until midnight.
As the brief period of calm took effect Saturday, survivors began to venture out of their homes to survey what was left, while those who had fled cautiously returned to see what had become of their abandoned houses.
The updated death toll was announced as Israeli officials considered extending the truce even longer, on the condition that the army continue targeting tunnels in Gaza, Israeli media said.
News site Ynet quoted a government source as saying an Israeli cabinet meeting was scheduled to take place at 9:30 pm to discuss the possibility.
It was initially unclear whether Hamas and other factions in Gaza would agree to extend the truce.
So far, Palestinian medical teams have used the ceasefire as an opportunity to recover dead bodies still buried under destroyed buildings.
Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry, said in a statement at 7:00 p.m. that 132 bodies had been recovered so far.
Many of the bodies were pulled from Gaza City's Shujaiyya neighborhood, which has experienced some of the heaviest Israeli shelling and airstrikes throughout the Gaza offensive. At least 70 people were killed in the neighborhood in one night of shelling last Sunday, a bombardment Palestinians have come to call "the Shujaiyya massacre."
Khuzaa in Khan Younis has been heavily targeted as well, but Israeli forces have refused to allow ambulances and search teams to access the village.
An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an that Palestinians in the Khan Younis area had been told to leave their homes days ago and told not to return during the ceasefire, and that therefore rescue teams were "not allowed to search" in parts of the southern Gaza Strip.
More Israeli soldiers announced dead
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said in a statement that the number of soldiers killed during Israel's ground invasion of Gaza had risen to 40.
"Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, 40 IDF (army) officers and soldiers have been killed," the statement said.
The militant wing of the Popular Resistance Committees had announced earlier that their fighters had killed a soldier earlier in the day.
Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades announced Friday that its militants had killed "at least" 10 soldiers with explosives in eastern Beit Hanoun.
Palestinian militant groups have claimed that the Israeli army has yet to announce the deaths of a handful of its troops.
Even taking the army's numbers at face value, the amount of soldiers killed during Israel's current Gaza offensive is the largest military loss the country has faced since its war with Lebanon in 2006.
Israeli army: Number of soldiers killed in Gaza offensive rises to 40
The Israeli army said in a statement Saturday that the number of soldiers killed during Israel's ground invasion of Gaza had risen to 40.
"Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, 40 IDF (army) officers and soldiers have been killed," the statement said.
The Israeli army said in a statement Saturday that the number of soldiers killed during Israel's ground invasion of Gaza had risen to 40.
"Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, 40 IDF (army) officers and soldiers have been killed," the statement said.
The Israeli army on Saturday warned Palestinians who have fled their homes since the beginning of the ground assault not to return, stressing that the army would not hesitate to use force against them.
The warning came as thousands returned to see the area and remove their possessions from destroyed homes, amid a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire set to expire at 8 p.m.
The Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a statement that those who stayed on in the neighborhood past the end of the ceasefire would be "putting their lives in danger," as the army is expected to resume a heavy assault that has taken nearly 1,000 Palestinian lives so far.
Many Gazans have been left with nowhere to go, as Israel has extended the security "buffer zone" into a total of 43 percent of Gaza's land area and all borders remain closed shut.
Total evacuation orders in effect across large swathes of northern, central, and southern Gaza, according to the UN's Palestine refugee agency UNRWA, and the Israeli army has made it clear that it would treat those civilians that stayed behind as combatants.
More than 100,000 have taken refuge in UN-designated shelters, a few of which have been bombed by Israeli forces in recent days despite the fact that their coordinates have been formally given to Israeli authorities.
The warning came as thousands returned to see the area and remove their possessions from destroyed homes, amid a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire set to expire at 8 p.m.
The Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a statement that those who stayed on in the neighborhood past the end of the ceasefire would be "putting their lives in danger," as the army is expected to resume a heavy assault that has taken nearly 1,000 Palestinian lives so far.
Many Gazans have been left with nowhere to go, as Israel has extended the security "buffer zone" into a total of 43 percent of Gaza's land area and all borders remain closed shut.
Total evacuation orders in effect across large swathes of northern, central, and southern Gaza, according to the UN's Palestine refugee agency UNRWA, and the Israeli army has made it clear that it would treat those civilians that stayed behind as combatants.
More than 100,000 have taken refuge in UN-designated shelters, a few of which have been bombed by Israeli forces in recent days despite the fact that their coordinates have been formally given to Israeli authorities.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and top diplomats from Europe and the Middle East gathered in Paris Saturday called for an extension to a temporary ceasefire currently in force between Israel and Hamas.
Both sides have agreed to a 12-hour "humanitarian" truce in Gaza that started on Saturday morning, putting a brief stop to a conflict that has killed nearly 1,000 Palestinians -- a large majority of them civilians.
"We all call on parties to extend the humanitarian ceasefire currently in force, by 24 hours that could be renewed," France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters after the meeting, which lasted more than two hours.
"We all want to obtain a lasting ceasefire as quickly as possible that addresses both Israeli requirements in terms of security and Palestinian requirements in terms of socioeconomic development."
Kerry and Fabius met with their counterparts from Britain, Germany, Italy, Qatar, and Turkey, as well as a representative from the European Union.
"It's now about reaching a common position that we must put an end to the deaths," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had said before the talks began.
Kerry, who has been leading international efforts to reach a truce, has been in regular contact with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Qatar as both countries wield influence on Hamas.
Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal is based in Qatar, while Turkey's Islamic-oriented prime minister has strongly criticized Israel's assault on Gaza as well as Egypt's role in trying to clinch a ceasefire.
Egypt minister absent
Kerry was in Cairo Friday where he met with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukri and UN chief Ban Ki-moon, but failed to reach a deal.
The United States and Egypt have been working on a plan that, diplomats say, would provide a seven-day truce during which the two sides would negotiate a longer-term deal.
But while Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire on humanitarian grounds, they have rejected any form of lasting truce.
Hamas wants its Turkish and Qatari allies to be involved in any ceasefire negotiations.
But relations with Egypt are strained over Turkey and Qatar's support for the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Unlike his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi whom he toppled and detained last year, current Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has sought to isolate the militant Palestinian movement in the neighboring Gaza Strip.
Egypt's foreign minister was pointedly absent from the Paris meeting, which France dismissed by saying that Egypt was still closely associated with the talks.
Speaking in Cairo Friday after his plan was rejected, Kerry said Israel and Hamas "still have some terminology" to agree to on a ceasefire, but added they had a "fundamental framework" on a truce.
Still, the two sides remain at odds over the shape of a final deal.
Hamas says any truce must include a guaranteed end to Israel's eight-year blockade of Gaza, while in Israel there are calls for any deal to include the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
Both sides have agreed to a 12-hour "humanitarian" truce in Gaza that started on Saturday morning, putting a brief stop to a conflict that has killed nearly 1,000 Palestinians -- a large majority of them civilians.
"We all call on parties to extend the humanitarian ceasefire currently in force, by 24 hours that could be renewed," France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters after the meeting, which lasted more than two hours.
"We all want to obtain a lasting ceasefire as quickly as possible that addresses both Israeli requirements in terms of security and Palestinian requirements in terms of socioeconomic development."
Kerry and Fabius met with their counterparts from Britain, Germany, Italy, Qatar, and Turkey, as well as a representative from the European Union.
"It's now about reaching a common position that we must put an end to the deaths," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had said before the talks began.
Kerry, who has been leading international efforts to reach a truce, has been in regular contact with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Qatar as both countries wield influence on Hamas.
Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal is based in Qatar, while Turkey's Islamic-oriented prime minister has strongly criticized Israel's assault on Gaza as well as Egypt's role in trying to clinch a ceasefire.
Egypt minister absent
Kerry was in Cairo Friday where he met with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukri and UN chief Ban Ki-moon, but failed to reach a deal.
The United States and Egypt have been working on a plan that, diplomats say, would provide a seven-day truce during which the two sides would negotiate a longer-term deal.
But while Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire on humanitarian grounds, they have rejected any form of lasting truce.
Hamas wants its Turkish and Qatari allies to be involved in any ceasefire negotiations.
But relations with Egypt are strained over Turkey and Qatar's support for the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Unlike his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi whom he toppled and detained last year, current Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has sought to isolate the militant Palestinian movement in the neighboring Gaza Strip.
Egypt's foreign minister was pointedly absent from the Paris meeting, which France dismissed by saying that Egypt was still closely associated with the talks.
Speaking in Cairo Friday after his plan was rejected, Kerry said Israel and Hamas "still have some terminology" to agree to on a ceasefire, but added they had a "fundamental framework" on a truce.
Still, the two sides remain at odds over the shape of a final deal.
Hamas says any truce must include a guaranteed end to Israel's eight-year blockade of Gaza, while in Israel there are calls for any deal to include the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli colonel likens the hunt for tunnels dug by Palestinian militants from the coastal enclave of Gaza to the work of a detective, saying that destroying them all could last another week.
"Finding these tunnels is like a detective trying to solve a murder with a number of clues. There are several pieces to the puzzle, including intelligence and technology," said Lieutenant Colonel Max of the army engineers for the Gaza area.
Israel has said uncovering and destroying an apparently sophisticated network of tunnels is a primary goal of its assault unleashed on July 8 in Gaza, particularly its ground invasion.
For the first time, the army on Friday gave foreign media access to part of the network, including a tunnel running more than three kilometers (two miles) from southern Gaza's Khan Younis to near the Israeli kibbutz of Nir-Am.
Max, who declined to give his family name, said the Israeli end of the tunnel was discovered two months ago.
But its entrance in Khan Younis was uncovered this week during the Israeli ground operation launched on July 17.
The tunnel is 1.75 meters high (six feet) and over 70 centimeters across, with its sides reinforced by closely-fitted concrete blocks and ceiling inlaid with arched concrete plates.
"Big enough for a man in full body armor to go through standing up," said Max.
The Islamist movement group Hamas which controls Gaza "could have put through dozens, even hundreds of terrorists through this tunnel out on the Israeli side before we would have discovered it."
Max said 26,000 components were used in the construction of the tunnel, estimating it must have cost around one million dollars to build.
Along one wall is a rack to string electric cables, while a metal dual track runs on the floor, similar to inside a mine shaft.
Max said the track was used to remove earth during construction and could also have been designed to ferry equipment and arms into Israel.
In part of the tunnel, a narrow niche has been carved out to store equipment and weapons.
Booby traps
The army is planning to completely destroy the tunnel within days using explosives, but the process is dangerous, Max said.
"You excavate through one of the tunnel walls and it can collapse," he said.
"Within the tunnel itself there can be booby traps, within and just around the entrance there can be booby traps, or there can be one of the enemy waiting within the tunnel.
"The biggest dangers though are not in the tunnels themselves but in the surrounding areas where we have to work, where you can have mines, anti-tank weapons, snipers, artillery."
So far, the army has found 30 tunnels, and over 100 shafts leading into them.
Max said the army tries to destroy the tunnels it finds from both ends, to ensure they cannot be reused in the future.
"You want to reach a point where the entire tunnel, from end to end, is destroyed, so the other side can't come back and use it another time," he said.
"Each tunnel takes a couple of days for us to deal with it."
Max said the soldiers needed about another week "if we want to neutralize all the tunnels ... at least all the tunnels that we know about."
"Finding these tunnels is like a detective trying to solve a murder with a number of clues. There are several pieces to the puzzle, including intelligence and technology," said Lieutenant Colonel Max of the army engineers for the Gaza area.
Israel has said uncovering and destroying an apparently sophisticated network of tunnels is a primary goal of its assault unleashed on July 8 in Gaza, particularly its ground invasion.
For the first time, the army on Friday gave foreign media access to part of the network, including a tunnel running more than three kilometers (two miles) from southern Gaza's Khan Younis to near the Israeli kibbutz of Nir-Am.
Max, who declined to give his family name, said the Israeli end of the tunnel was discovered two months ago.
But its entrance in Khan Younis was uncovered this week during the Israeli ground operation launched on July 17.
The tunnel is 1.75 meters high (six feet) and over 70 centimeters across, with its sides reinforced by closely-fitted concrete blocks and ceiling inlaid with arched concrete plates.
"Big enough for a man in full body armor to go through standing up," said Max.
The Islamist movement group Hamas which controls Gaza "could have put through dozens, even hundreds of terrorists through this tunnel out on the Israeli side before we would have discovered it."
Max said 26,000 components were used in the construction of the tunnel, estimating it must have cost around one million dollars to build.
Along one wall is a rack to string electric cables, while a metal dual track runs on the floor, similar to inside a mine shaft.
Max said the track was used to remove earth during construction and could also have been designed to ferry equipment and arms into Israel.
In part of the tunnel, a narrow niche has been carved out to store equipment and weapons.
Booby traps
The army is planning to completely destroy the tunnel within days using explosives, but the process is dangerous, Max said.
"You excavate through one of the tunnel walls and it can collapse," he said.
"Within the tunnel itself there can be booby traps, within and just around the entrance there can be booby traps, or there can be one of the enemy waiting within the tunnel.
"The biggest dangers though are not in the tunnels themselves but in the surrounding areas where we have to work, where you can have mines, anti-tank weapons, snipers, artillery."
So far, the army has found 30 tunnels, and over 100 shafts leading into them.
Max said the army tries to destroy the tunnels it finds from both ends, to ensure they cannot be reused in the future.
"You want to reach a point where the entire tunnel, from end to end, is destroyed, so the other side can't come back and use it another time," he said.
"Each tunnel takes a couple of days for us to deal with it."
Max said the soldiers needed about another week "if we want to neutralize all the tunnels ... at least all the tunnels that we know about."
As if struck by an earthquake, vast swathes of the eastern Gaza City neighborhood of Shujaiyya have been reduced to rubble, with unknown numbers of burnt and decaying bodies buried below.
As a 12-hour ceasefire took effect Saturday, survivors began to venture out of their homes to survey what was left, while those who had fled cautiously returned to see what had become of the only homes they had ever known.
As of 2 p.m., medical teams had already recovered 85 bodies from the rubble.
Shell-shocked residents, meanwhile, wandered through the neighborhood, with one local telling Ma'an that returnees "could not even find the location of their houses."
Yasser Hamdiyya, who lost four members of his family in the assault so far, came to check on his four-story building in Shujaiyya.
He told Ma'an that the building used to house 22 people, but upon his return he found only a pile of stones. At least 20 neighboring buildings had been leveled as well, he said.
Others were unable to access their buildings because Israeli military tanks were still stationed throughout the neighborhood, blocking major gates as they prepared to return to fighting when the ceasefire ended at 8 p.m.
As a 12-hour ceasefire took effect Saturday, survivors began to venture out of their homes to survey what was left, while those who had fled cautiously returned to see what had become of the only homes they had ever known.
As of 2 p.m., medical teams had already recovered 85 bodies from the rubble.
Shell-shocked residents, meanwhile, wandered through the neighborhood, with one local telling Ma'an that returnees "could not even find the location of their houses."
Yasser Hamdiyya, who lost four members of his family in the assault so far, came to check on his four-story building in Shujaiyya.
He told Ma'an that the building used to house 22 people, but upon his return he found only a pile of stones. At least 20 neighboring buildings had been leveled as well, he said.
Others were unable to access their buildings because Israeli military tanks were still stationed throughout the neighborhood, blocking major gates as they prepared to return to fighting when the ceasefire ended at 8 p.m.
"It seems that a tsunami has changed the geography of Shujaiyya," Salim Abu Omar told Ma'an while standing in front of the rubble of the Hamdiyya family home.
"There used to be streets and residential blocks in this area, but they have become a pile of rocks."
When Ma'an spoke to him, Abu Omar was waiting with the hope that he could soon visit the rubble of his own house, which he had fled from four days ago.
Located at the eastern edge of al-Mansoura, he was afraid to return yet because Israeli military tanks were stationed in front of the rubble of his home.
Many drew comparisons between the ongoing assault on Gaza and the Nakba of 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes in what became Israel. More than half of Gaza's people are Nakba refugees, descendants of those who were dispossessed by Israel.
At least 120,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the current attack. Because all borders are closed, however, the vast majority have sought refuge in UN-designated shelters in zones further from the epicenter of fighting.
These refuges, however, are not necessarily safer -- an Israeli shell hit a Beit Hanoun shelter on Wednesday, killing at least 17.
Perhaps cognizant of the memories of the Nakba and Israel's denial of the right of the refugees to return to their homes, locals Ma'an spoke to were afraid of Israeli intentions and were taking as many blankets with them as possible as they fled.
"There used to be streets and residential blocks in this area, but they have become a pile of rocks."
When Ma'an spoke to him, Abu Omar was waiting with the hope that he could soon visit the rubble of his own house, which he had fled from four days ago.
Located at the eastern edge of al-Mansoura, he was afraid to return yet because Israeli military tanks were stationed in front of the rubble of his home.
Many drew comparisons between the ongoing assault on Gaza and the Nakba of 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes in what became Israel. More than half of Gaza's people are Nakba refugees, descendants of those who were dispossessed by Israel.
At least 120,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the current attack. Because all borders are closed, however, the vast majority have sought refuge in UN-designated shelters in zones further from the epicenter of fighting.
These refuges, however, are not necessarily safer -- an Israeli shell hit a Beit Hanoun shelter on Wednesday, killing at least 17.
Perhaps cognizant of the memories of the Nakba and Israel's denial of the right of the refugees to return to their homes, locals Ma'an spoke to were afraid of Israeli intentions and were taking as many blankets with them as possible as they fled.
Meanwhile, rescue teams and paramedics continued to recover dead bodies from the debris, after they were denied access to the injured by Israel in the days before.
At least 85 bodies have been recovered by medical authorities so far, as they rush to collect as many as possible as the 12-hour window of calm quickly approaches an end.
Shujaiyya gained international attention earlier in the week, when an Israeli offensive in the area on Sunday killed more than 70 people, the vast majority civilians, in what medical officials called a "massacre."
At least 85 bodies have been recovered by medical authorities so far, as they rush to collect as many as possible as the 12-hour window of calm quickly approaches an end.
Shujaiyya gained international attention earlier in the week, when an Israeli offensive in the area on Sunday killed more than 70 people, the vast majority civilians, in what medical officials called a "massacre."
An Israeli airstrike early Friday killed the official in charge of the media department of Islamic Jihad's military wing, along with three of his children.
The Islamic Jihad movement confirmed on Friday that Salah Ahmad Abu Hasanein, 45, nicknamed Abu Ahmad, was killed along with his sons 15-year-old Abd al-Aziz, 12-year-old Hadi and 9-year-old Abd al-Hadi.
The Israeli attack on Abu Ahmad's home in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip also injured 14 others.
The Israeli army earlier claimed the assassination of Abu Ahmad, who they described as a member of the "higher military council" of the Islamic Jihad movement.
The Islamic Jihad movement confirmed on Friday that Salah Ahmad Abu Hasanein, 45, nicknamed Abu Ahmad, was killed along with his sons 15-year-old Abd al-Aziz, 12-year-old Hadi and 9-year-old Abd al-Hadi.
The Israeli attack on Abu Ahmad's home in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip also injured 14 others.
The Israeli army earlier claimed the assassination of Abu Ahmad, who they described as a member of the "higher military council" of the Islamic Jihad movement.
The Palestine Monetary Authority said on Saturday that orders have been given to all Gaza banks to open their doors during the 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire that will continue until 8 p.m.
In a statement, the PMA said that banks had been receiving customers since the morning hours.
Banks in Gaza have been closed for the majority of the last 18 days amid the Israeli assault, especially since the ground invasion began last week.
In a statement, the PMA said that banks had been receiving customers since the morning hours.
Banks in Gaza have been closed for the majority of the last 18 days amid the Israeli assault, especially since the ground invasion began last week.
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