PHOTO: Anti-war protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday night
UPDATE 1940 GMT: A “senior Government official” has said that Israel will accept a temporary ceasefire and send negotiators back to Cairo — provided there is no rocket fire from midnight through the morning.
However, the Israeli Security Cabinet appears divided, with some Ministers implicitly criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Four of the eight Ministers in the Cabinet have said that Israel faces failure if it does not reoccupy Gaza.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman asserted:
From the start (I asserted) that we had to defeat Hamas decisively. Hamas’s minimum demands were more than the maximum Israel would accept. If we’d followed my advice from Day One… we’d be past that stage. We have to defeat Hamas and clean the territory.
Another minister, Gilad Erdan, said Israel is “getting close to the point where we’ll have to take a decision”, which is “very likely” to retake Gaza.
A third minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, said he doubted any truce would hold and that Israel would likely have to mount a wider ground offensive.
And Economy Minister Naftali Bennett criticized:
The Israeli government defined the target of Operation Protective Edge when it was launched — to return security to residents of the south.
Now we need to look soberly and honestly and admit that the mission has not been accomplished.
Bennett then challenged the decision to cease fire if there are no Gazan rockets on Monday morning:
he cease-fire is a green light for Hamas to start shooting at us in 72 hours….You don’t need to negotiate with a terror organization like Hamas. You need to treat Hamas like an organization firing rockets at us.
President Reuven Rivlin tried to paper over the tensions as he met Netanyahu on Sunday night: “I see some wonderful unity when a storm is upon us and I ask all those who applaud us and say what great unity. Why is it that we are not so united all the time?”
UPDATE 1630 GMT: A Palestinian official maintains that a 72-hour ceasefire in Gaza has been agreed.
The official said Egypt had received “simultaneous consensus” from both sides and would officially announce a timing for the start of the ceasefire.
Earlier, Israel had said it would not agree to a ceasefire while rockets were being fired across the border. However, an official says the Egyptian truce proposal is now being discussed.
Israel’s Channel 2 says an Israeli delegation is en route to Cairo.
Egypt is calling for the ceasefire to begin at midnight local time on Monday.
UPDATE 1330 GMT: Palestinian negotiators say they have accepted an Egyptian proposal for another 72-hour ceasefire.
The Israeli Government said it would not return its delegation, which left Cairo just before the expiry of a 72-hour halt on Friday, without another stoppage.
“We are here to look for an agreement. We cannot have an agreement without talks, so we accepted an Egyptian proposal to have a ceasefire for 72 hours in order to resume the talks,” said a Palestinian negotiator.
However, a “senior Israeli official” has said West Jerusalem will not agree to any temporary halt while rockets are still being fired across the border: “As we speak, they continue to target the communities on our side of the border. It’s clear there’s no ceasefire.”
UPDATE 1010 GMT: Four Gazans, including a 14-year-old boy in Deir al-Balah, have been killed by Israeli attacks on Sunday.
In the West Bank, an 11-year-old boy was shot and killed by the Israeli military gunfire in the Al-Fawar refugee camp near Hebron.
The Israeli forces entered the camp for an unknown reason and were met by stone-throwing. The teenager, a bystander to the clash, was standing at the entrance to his home when soldiers fired at him.
The Israel Defense Forces later expressed regret for the killing, “In a confrontation that developed during an operation in Al-Fawar, IDF forces opened fire that killed a young Palestinian.” They said the circumstances of the incident were being checked and that a case would be opened by the military’s Criminal Investigation Division.
At least five Palestinians were injured in fighting after the killing.
UPDATE 1000 GMT: Both sides are pointing this morning to a prolonged conflict.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put out the statement, as his Cabinet meets, that the Gaza operation “will continue and will take time”: “Hamas won’t wear us down, and we will not negotiate under fire.”
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman added, with a jibe at his own Prime Minister:
Hamas must be defeated.
We [must] clean up the area and leave as fast as possible. If only someone would have listened to me on day one, we would have been done already.
In Cairo, the Palestinian delegation has rejected the Israeli demand for a temporary ceasefire before talks resume.
“We reject this precondition,” the head of the delegation, Azzam Ahmed, said. He reiterated that, unless Israel responds to the Palestinian proposals on Sunday, his delegation will “return to Palestine for consultations”.
UPDATE 0615 GMT: Gazan children “ride” an unexploded Israeli missile:
Talks in Egypt for a ceasefire in the 33-day Gaza War are on the verge of collapse.
Israeli officials left the negotiations on Friday, just before the end of a 72-hour halt in fighting, and the Palestinian delegation says it will depart Cairo on Sunday unless the Israeli return without conditions.
The Palestinian groups — including the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad — refused to extend the temporary ceasefire, saying that Israel is still refusing to consider measures such as an end to the blockade of Gaza and the opening of a seaport.
Nine Gazans, including a 13-year-old girl, were killed on Saturday by Israeli attacks. Israel said at least three of the dead were fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military branch of Hamas, as it hit more than 60 targets.
At least 1,931 Gazans have been killed since the war began on July 8.
Israeli officials said 30 rockets were fired from Gaza across the border yesterday. One man suffered moderate injuries.
