Israel-Hamas war, Day 25Cease-fire collapses after Hamas violates it; Israeli soldier captured
As was the case with five earlier humanitarian cease-fires, a UN-sponsored 72-hour cease-fire, which was announced last night by Secretary of State John Kerry and which went into effect at 08:00 am (02:00 EST) – was immediately violated by Hamas. This time, at 09:30, an hour-and-half after the cease-fire went into effect, a group of Hamas fighters, which included one suicide bomber, emerged from a tunnel to attack an IDF force near the city of Rafah. The fierce fire exchange ended with a score of Hamas fighters dead, two IDF soldier killed, and several IDF soldiers injured – but the most important result was that the surviving Hamas fighters were able to capture an injured or dead IDF soldier and drag him back into the tunnel. Israel has informed the UN that the cease-fire was over, and heavy fighting across Gaza resumed.
As was the case with five earlier humanitarian cease-fires, a UN-sponsored 72-hour cease-fire, which was announced last night by Secretary of State John Kerry and which went into effect at 08:00 am (02:00 EST) – was immediately violated by Hamas. This time, at 09:30, an hour-and-half after the cease-fire went into effect, a group of Hamas fighters, which included one suicide bomber, emerged from a tunnel to attack an IDF force positioned near the city of Rafah.
The fierce fire exchange ended with a score of Hamas fighters dead, two IDF soldiers dead, and several IDF soldiers injured – but the most important result was that the surviving Hamas fighters were able to capture a dead or injured IDF soldier – Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin — and drag him back into the tunnel.
In addition, Hamas added to its violation of the cease-fire by launching rocket salvos on towns in southern Israel.
Israel has informed the UN that the cease-fire was over, and that fighting has resumed.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement, “Once again, Hamas and the terrorist organizations in Gaza have blatantly violated the cease-fire to which they committed themselves, this time before the American secretary of state and the secretary general of the United Nations.”
UN Special Coordinator Robert Serry called Hamas actions says a “serious incident” that occurred after the cease-fire deal took effect, “involving a tunnel behind IDF lines in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip.”
One of Hamas political leaders, Mousa Abu Marzook, who lives in Cairo to take part in the negotiations on the post-cease-fire arrangement, boasted of the capture of the Israeli soldier.
Hamas TV stations announced the capture, saying it was a major achievement for the organization.
The IDF has responded to the capture of the soldier by a quick ground move toward Rafah in an effort to isolate the city and prevent Hamas from moving the captured soldier to Gaza City.
Heavy fighting is now reported in the Rafah area, with more than forty Palestinians killed and 100 injured in the early stages of the ground operation.
Egypt has closed the Rafah border crossing.
In addition to rushing large number of ground troops to Rafah, the IDF resumed heavy air strikes and artillery barrages against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas and Hezbollah have perfected the art of using captured soldiers to gain release of terrorists held in Israeli jails. The latest episode was the agreement over the release of Gliad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held by Hamas for five years after he was captured in 2006. Israel has agreed to release more than 1,000 Palestinian terrorists in exchange for Shalit. Quite a few of those released by Israel – all of them Hamas members – have been put back in Israeli jails following the June capture and killing of three Israeli teen-agers by Hamas operatives in the Hebron area.
On a couple of occasions, Hezbollah also used the bodies of dead soldiers as a bargaining chip to gain the release of prisoners – and in one case, refused to let Israel, or the Red Cross, know whether the captured soldiers were dead or alive until after an exchange agreement was reached.
The Israeli cabinet will meet in three hours in an emergency session. There are two possibilities going forward.
Israel is now likely to expand the operation against Hamas by going after more Hamas targets – targets which have not been attacked so far because Israel’s strategy of limiting civilian casualties. Israel may now decide to relax that limit in order to reach targets such Hamas political leadership, targets which are even more deeply intertwined with the Palestinian civilian population. Other leadership targets, for example, Khaled Mashal, Hamas political leader outside of Gaza, can be easily taken down. Destroying Hamas top political and military leadership will also make it easier to begin the dismantling of Hamas, emulating the manner in which the Egyptian authorities have gone about marginalizing the Muslim Brotherhood. The removal of Hamas political leadership will also make it easier for Muhammad Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to reassert their authority over Gaza.
Following successive Israeli surrenders to the emotional blackmails by Hamas and Hezbollah over captured soldiers or capture of dead bodies, culminating in the Shalit exchange three years ago, it appears that a page has been turned in Israel, and that a realization has been internalized by the Israeli public that by elevating the return of one or two captured soldiers, or one or two bodies, from a tactical event to a strategic issue, the Israeli public itself – and the pressure it has exerted on successive governments — have given Hezbollah and Hamas a significant strategic weapon with which to extract concessions from Israel. This weapon can be unilaterally disarmed by a new approach to the issue of captured soldiers.
