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According to Israeli site Ynet, Hamas refuses to discuss draft; Israel willing 'in principle' to discuss it.
An initial ceasefire draft between Israel and Hamas has reportedly been drafted by Egypt and Qatar, Israeli Ynet site reported Saturday. According to the report, Hamas refused to discuss the draft. Israel, however, said it is willing "in principle" to discuss it.
The draft, Ynet journalist and veteran war correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai says, is divided to two clauses: A security clause and a civil-economic clause. The security clause includes Hamas' demands to release 56 prisoners, who were released as part of Shalit prisoner-swap deal, but rearrested during Israel's operation to find the kidnapped Israeli teens last month in the West Bank.
The civil-economic clause discusses going back to 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense's agreements, such as Israel's opening Gaza's border crossings, facilitating the movements of people and transfer of goods, and refraining from restricting residents' free movements, with slight changes.
Operation Protective Edge has entered its fifth day Saturday with rockets fired from Gaza into the southern city of Beersheba. Three rockets have landed in open areas, causing no damage or injuries. During Friday more than 95 rockets were fired into Israel, one of them hitting a petrol station in Ashdod, causing a fire. One man was critically injured and evacuated to the hospital for surgery. Three people were lightly wounded when a rocket hit a house in Beersheba. An 80-year-old woman died in Haifa after falling down the stairs while trying to get to a bomb shelter. Israel struck 60 terrorists targets in Gaza overnight.
Since the beginning of the operation last Tuesday, the Israeli Air Force has struck over 1,100 targets in the Gaza Strip, in which, according to the Palestinians, 127 people were killed, half of them women and children, and 920 wounded.
According to Israel's Home Front Command's latest data, 162 Israelis were wounded, 133 of them treated for shock and anxiety.
Overall, more than 520 rockets were fired into Israel. Iron Dome missile defense system has intercepted 135 rockets.
Israel says preparations are under way for a possible ground attack, with tanks and artillery amassed along the border and some 33,000 reservists mobilized out of 40,000 approved by the cabinet.
Menahem Kahana (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters Friday Israel is expected to intensify its aerial raids in the coming days. "No international pressure will prevent us from striking, with all force, against the terrorist organization which calls for our destruction," he told a news conference in Tel Aviv. Netanyahu added that "All options are on the table, including ground incursion. The operation will end once quiet is restored."
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he expected a political decision on a possible ground operation within 48 hours. "At the moment we are dealing with the first phase... air attacks," he told Israeli Channel One television. In an interview with Channel 2 Lieberman said that the goal in a ground operation “was not to re-establish Jewish settlement there” but to remove the threat of Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli towns. “After Operation Cast Lead and Operation Pillar of Defense, we can’t have a situation where we don’t finish the job because that will only lead to a countdown before the next operation,” the foreign minister added.
Latest Developments:
12:17 GMT: Two rockets land in open areas in Eshkol Regional Council.
11:44 GMT: Five dead in an Israeli strike on Gaza's neighborhood of Sheikh Redwan (Palestinians).
11:23 GMT: Iron Dome missile defense system intercepts tow rockets over Beersheba.
10:44 GMT: Seven rockets fired into southern Israel. All land in open areas.
10:42 GMT: Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague says he is extremely concerned about humanitarian situation and loss of life in Gaza.
10:13 GMT: Rocket lands in the southern city of Netivot, hitting a house. Three people treated for shock.
09:29 GMT: Israeli airstrike hit overnight a mosque the military says concealed weapons. "The bombing of two mosques in Gaza overnight shows how barbaric this enemy is and how much is it hostile to Islam," Husam Badran, a Hamas spokesman in Doha, Qatar, said. "This terrorism gives us the right to broaden our response to deter this occupier."
"Hamas terrorists systematically exploit and choose to put Palestinians in Gaza in harm's way and continue to locate their positions among civilian areas and mosques, proving once more their disregard for human life and holy sites," Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said.
09:00 GMT: Iron Dome missile defense system intercepts two missiles over central Israel
08:42 GMT: Extremist Salafi organization Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, operating in Sinai, says fired five rockets into Israel.
08:38 GMT: Two rockets land in open areas in Eshkol Regional Council.
07:54 GMT: Israeli Air Force chief Maj-Gen Amir Eshel says there is no need of a ground attack in Gaza in order to complete the destruction of Hamas' rocket launchers and tunnels. According to Eshel, a ground attack might involve many loses and is error-prone while the Air Force's attack methods, its intelligence and missile guidance capacities are more effective.
07:18 GMT: Kuwait calls for an emergency Arab League meeting over the crisis in Gaza.
07:15 GMT: Two rockets land in open area in Eshkol Regional Council.
07:13 GMT: US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, reiterating his condolences on the recent kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers and expressed US condemnation of continuing rocket fire into Israel by Hamas and other terrorist organizations. “The secretary reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself against these attacks,” Carl Woog, assistant Pentagon press secretary, said. “He [Hagel]also expressed concern about the risk of further escalation and emphasized the need for all sides to do everything they can to protect the lives of civilians and restore calm.”
07:08 GMT: According to Israel's Home Front Command's latest data, 162 Israelis were wounded since last Tuesday, 133 of them treated for shock and anxiety
07:07 GMT: Over 520 rockets were fired into Israel since the beginning of Oeration Protective Edge. Iron Dome missile defense system has intercepted 135 rockets
04:38 GMT: Three Palestinians were killed in a new Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, raising the toll in five days of violence to 121, medics said. The men were killed in the Tufah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, according to Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for Gaza's health ministry.
03:31 GMT: The Palestinians and their international supporters discuss the text of a UN resolution that would condemn all violence against civilians in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and call for “an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire.” An initial draft of the proposed Security Council resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, expresses “grave concern” at the escalating violence and deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories due to Israeli military operations, particularly against the Gaza Strip, and at the heavy civilian casualties including children. The draft does not mention Hamas’ firing of rockets into Israel.
02:55 GMT: At least five Palestinians were killed in two Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip early Saturday, medics said, raising the toll in the violence to 118. Two were killed in a strike that hit a charitable association for the disabled in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, while three others died in a second strike in western Gaza City, local health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.
02:08 GMT: Sirens warning of incoming rockets from Gaza sound in Eshkol Regional Council. One rocket falls in an open area.
01:15 GMT: The Israeli military released a video showing aerial surveillance of a target that an Israel Air Force Pilot has been ordered to strike. The pilot notices a large group of people near the target and informs his headquarters. After a short deliberation, he receives confirmation to abort the strike and move on.
July 12: 01:00 GMT: Sirens warning of incoming rockets wail in Beersheba and surrounding areas as a volley of rockets is launched from Gaza. Three rockets land in open area.
