Netanyahu has vowed to continue offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip despite the death of his 18 soldiers and two civilians.
Netanyahu told reporters last night that the death of the soldiers is “painful and difficult”, but Israel will continue its Operation Protective Edge with full speed ahead. Four Indian tailors working in Gaza for the last two years were evacuated yesterday unharmed with the help of the Representative Office of India (ROI) in Ramallah, West Bank.
Pushkar Sharma, an Indian-American representative of the UN Access coordination office in Gaza, said the Indians, along with a few other foreign nationals, crossed over through the Erez crossing around noon before the two-hour humanitarian ceasefire brokered by the Red Cross began.
Some more Indians, married to Palestinians or working at Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charities, have decided not to leave the coastal strip because of personal or moral reasons. Thirteen Israeli soldiers were killed yesterday alone, which is higher than that sustained during the entire three-week duration of Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, the last time Israel sent its troops into Gaza.
“We bow our heads to our fallen sons, who died so we could continue living in our country,” Netanyahu said at a press conference with Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon. “I would like to express, on behalf of the government of Israel and the people of Israel, the deep pain we feel. We send our condolences to the parents, children, partners and families of the IDF soldiers who fell in battle. I want to tell you, there isn't a war more just than that in which your sons bravely died in,” he said accusing Hamas of dragging his country into the war.
He promised “to complete the task to restore calm to the south, central Israel and the rest of the country” in an indication that the operation would continue. Ya'alon re-iterated Netanyahu's message cautioning that there were still long days of fighting ahead.
“We won't break and we won't back away. The IDF's best commanders and fighters are operating in the Gaza Strip today in order to remove the threat of rockets, terror and tunnels,” the Israeli Defence Minister emphasised. “The price we pay, unfortunately, is heavy. This is the painful cost of war,” Ya'alon added.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) brokered a temporary ceasefire yesterday to allow evacuation of the dead and wounded in a deal accepted by both Israel and Hamas. However, the humanitarian ceasefire was short-lived as the Israeli army accused Hamas militants of violating it and said it had “responded accordingly”.
Palestinians have released gruesome images of the dead and wounded, including children.
“The massacre of civilians in Saja'iyya is a war crime that will not break the will of our people. The resistance will not allow the enemy to trample over the soil of Gaza,” Hamas' armed wing said in a statement.
