Israel swears off talks Palestine toll rises to 1,669
A Palestinian has his picture taken by a friend with a tablet on the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque, in Gaza City. (Photo: AP)
Gaza/Jerusalem:Israel signalled it was winding down the 25-day-old Gaza war unilaterally, saying on Saturday it would not attend Egyptian-hosted negotiations for a new truce and giving Palestinians who had fled fighting in one northern town the all-clear to return.
But shelling exchanges continued, with Palestine officials saying Gaza’s mostly civilian death toll rose to 1,669 and Israel saying its Iron Dome interceptor shot down rockets launched at Tel Aviv and Beersheba.
Israel accused Hamas of seizing lieutenant Hadar Goldin and the United States blamed the group for a “barbaric” breach of the truce. The United Nations was more guarded in its censure of Hamas, but urged Goldin’s immediate release.
Seeking to shift responsibility, Hamas said it believed its gunmen had struck before Friday’s ceasefire began and that if they captured Goldin, he probably died with his captors in heavy Israeli barrages that followed.
A Palestinian delegation was to fly to Cairo for new truce negotiations, which would include Hamas’s demand that Egypt ease movement across its border with blockaded Gaza.
But Israel said it would not send its own envoys as scheduled on Saturday.
“They (Hamas) cannot be trusted to keep their word. They cannot stop (firing) because, for them, a ceasefire at this stage, whether by arrangement or not by arrangement, would mean acknowledging the worst possible defeat,” deputy-foreign minister Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel’s Channel Two television. “I believe this is the point at which the ground manoeuvres should be brought to an end."
( Source : reuters )
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