 |
| Israeli soldiers from the paratroop battalion return to Israel . Photo: AP |
Jerusalem: Israeli ground forces will completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip before a 72-hour Egyptian-mediated ceasefire, which began at 3pm on Tuesday (AEST), a military spokesman said.
"The Israel Defence Forces will be redeployed in defensive positions outside the Gaza Strip and we will maintain those defensive positions," Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said.
Citing briefings from the military, Israel Radio and Army Radio also announced that ground forces have completed their main war mission of destroying cross-border tunnels dug by Palestinian militants.
At least 32 of the underground passages – and dozens of access shafts – were located and blown up, Israel Radio and Army Radio said.
Just hours before the ceasefire started, the Gaza conflict arrived in deadly form in Jerusalem. In two separate attacks, a Palestinian man killed an Israeli while overturning a bus with a construction vehicle in West Jerusalem and a few hours later a gunman wounded a soldier in an attack in East Jerusalem. Both attacks appeared to be a backlash against Israel's Gaza war.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility but a spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, said: "We praise the heroic and brave operations in Jerusalem, which come as a natural reaction to the crimes and massacres by the occupation against our people in Gaza." Read more
"The Israel Defence Forces will be redeployed in defensive positions outside the Gaza Strip and we will maintain those defensive positions," Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said.
Citing briefings from the military, Israel Radio and Army Radio also announced that ground forces have completed their main war mission of destroying cross-border tunnels dug by Palestinian militants.
At least 32 of the underground passages – and dozens of access shafts – were located and blown up, Israel Radio and Army Radio said.
Just hours before the ceasefire started, the Gaza conflict arrived in deadly form in Jerusalem. In two separate attacks, a Palestinian man killed an Israeli while overturning a bus with a construction vehicle in West Jerusalem and a few hours later a gunman wounded a soldier in an attack in East Jerusalem. Both attacks appeared to be a backlash against Israel's Gaza war.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility but a spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, said: "We praise the heroic and brave operations in Jerusalem, which come as a natural reaction to the crimes and massacres by the occupation against our people in Gaza." Read more
 |
| A man at a funeral in Beit Lahiya carries the body of a girl from the Abu Nejim family, whom medics said was killed along with eight other family members by an Israeli air strike. Photo: Reuters |
No comments:
Post a Comment