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- Feb 26, 2014
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Hamas has again violated cease fire deal:Kitendo cha Hamas cha kumteka mwanajeshi wa Israel will lead to further escalation of crisis in Middle East.Ni Kitendo kibaya sana kinachofaa kulaaniwa na wapenda Amani wote.
My take;Hamas knows that they can't defeat IDF,so what are they trying to achieve?
Source:ft.com
My take;Hamas knows that they can't defeat IDF,so what are they trying to achieve?
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Smoke billows from buildings following an Israeli military strike east of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip
A US and UN backed ceasefire in the Gaza Strip fell apart soon after it began at 8am on Friday, as Israel's military fired at Palestinians in Gaza and militant factions fired rockets targeting Israeli cities.
The Israel Defence Forces also reported that one of its soldiers had been abducted at about 9.30am when Israeli troops were working to destroy a militant tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.
"There was an attack executed against IDF soldiers decommissioning a tunnel," a military spokeswoman said. "Initial indications of the incident suggest a soldier was abducted. There are ongoing intelligence efforts and extensive searches to locate the soldier."
An official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed that the ceasefire was over and blamed Hamas for having violated it first.
"Once again Hamas and the terrorist organisations in Gaza have blatantly violated a ceasefire they committed themselves to, and the commitment that they gave to [US Secretary of State John] Kerry and the UN secretary-general," the official said.
Earlier on Friday morning, Mr Netanyahu's office said Israel had accepted the proposed 72-hour ceasefire, brokered by the UN and the US after growing international concern over civilian casualties in the conflict.
Israeli officials were quoted in local media on Friday saying that their work on destroying Hamas's tunnels from Gaza was nearly done. The reports raised hopes among Israelis that Mr Netanyahu's government might soon declare victory in the 25-day-old conflict and unilaterally end its assault on Gaza, which has claimed at least 1,400 Palestinian lives and brought strong international condemnation of Israel, including from its closest ally, the US.
Israeli shelling near the southern Gaza town of Rafah killed at least 40 people on Friday, Reuters reported the local hospital as saying.
Sirens were also heard at the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Gaza and Israel on Friday morning, warning Israelis about incoming rockets from Gaza.
Egypt and the US are working on a diplomatic deal involving the Palestinian political factions, including Hamas, and Israel that aims to end the fighting, demilitarise Hamas and other militant factions, and lift the blockade on the movement of people and goods into and out of Gaza.
Palestinian factions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have called for a "day of rage" on Friday to demonstrate against Israel's killings of civilians in Gaza, and are planning protest marches for the afternoon. Five Palestinians were killed last Friday by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank during protests, raising fears that the conflict might spread.
The war, now one of the longest-running in Israel's history, is causing tensions within Mr Netanyahu's coalition, where his extreme-right partners have been calling for him to take a harder line on Gaza-based militants since before the war.
After the ceasefire collapsed, Uri Ariel, Israel's far-right housing minister, told Israel Radio that ceasefires were "ineffective" and called on Israel's leaders to mobilise more reservists and launch an offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Source:ft.com