Israel To Extend Gaza Truce By Four Hours: Govt Source

[kentuck]

Is that so they can recover the dead bodies so they do not have to smell them?
======================




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/26/israel-extend-gaza-truce_n_5623372.html?1406391317

<snip>
(Reuters) - Israel has agreed to extend by four hours a humanitarian truce agreed with Hamas and other armed groups in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, an Israeli government source said, declining to be named.
It was not immediately clear if Hamas Islamists, who control Gaza, had also agreed to prolong the original 12-hour ceasefire and continue the quiet until midnight (2100 GMT).

[Loudly]

1. If honored by both sides, a four-hour ceasefire can be renewed indefinitely.

It's a hopeful step.

[kentuck]

2. During Temporary Ceasefire, Gaza Residents Return To Destroyed Areas

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/26/temporary-ceasefire-gaza_n_5622952.html

<snip>
GAZA/JERUSALEM, July 26 (Reuters) - Palestinians in the Gaza Strip poured into the streets on Saturday to recover their dead and stock up on food supplies after a 12-hour humanitarian truce agreed by Israel and Hamas took hold on the 19th day of their conflict.

Women in the northern town of Beit Hanoun wailed as medics pulled three dead relatives from a home struck overnight by an Israeli air strike, with hospital officials saying 85 bodies had been found after the guns fell silent at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT).

Just before the truce started, 18 members of a single family, including five children, died in a strike near the southern town of Khan Younis, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

[bigtree]

3. I wondered what their response would be to the continuing recovery of bodies

. . . obviously 12 hrs is insufficient to effect the recovery of the 'dozens' more victims which are likely still underneath all of the rubble.

[kentuck]

4. I wonder if Israel is hurting themselves more than their enemies?

It can not help if they turn the world against them.

[malthaussen]

5. I get the impression from DU that they are.

Hard to say about the world outside our little bubble, but the recent UN resolution looked like mostly the SOS, with the US and Europe refusing to censure and the rest of the world in favor.

They've certainly lost a lot of my support (and I have long been an Israel fanboy), because I have never been able to get behind government-sponsored terrorism. It is quite painful to see once-liberal countries becoming the monster they claim to despise. But that has been the theme of the 21st century, in my observation. We use criminal acts to fight criminals, and call it justice. Now, if I could just think of a realistic option to dealing with said criminals...

-- Mal

[bigtree]

6. probably. Do they care?

The New York Times ‏@nytimes 10m

Losing Support From Abroad, Netanyahu Finds a Wealth of Backing at Home http://nyti.ms/1nJ3l4t

[Baclava]

7. Mortars Explode in Israel Moments After Cease-fire Extension Agreement is Reached

Four mortars have exploded in an Israeli suburb just minutes after Hamas and Israel agreed to extend a humanitarian cease-fire for four hours.

https://news.vice.com/article/mortars-explode-in-israel-moments-after-cease-fire-extension-agreement-is-reached

[bigtree]

8. not necessarily Hamas

from your article:

"Israeli officials say no one was hurt and the rocket fire is not necessarily indicative that Hamas has reneged on the terms of the extension, but could have been perpetrated by a lone cell operation outside of the group's command"

[Baclava]

10. Hamas rejects 4-hour cease-fire extension in Gaza

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri sent a text message to reporters Saturday, saying: "No agreement to extending the calm for an additional four hours." A short time afterward, the Israeli military said three rockets were fired from Gaza.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/07/26/israel-gaza-palestinian-cease-fire/13202349/

[Skidmore]

9. Bill Richardson was on talking to Alex Witt on MSNBC earlier

and he sounded supportive of Israel continuing until it has achieved its objectives, which he reads as destroying tunnels. That any discussions or change of course would be somehow "legitimizing" Hamas. Wasn't Hamas the elected government of the Palestinians? Am I misremembering something? Also discussion with others subsequent to that interview has provided the supposition on Israel's part that there are 31 of said tunnels, but "no one really knows," per the reporter. So, the upshot is that indiscriminate massacring of the Palestinians will continue until Israel says it has run out of tunnels, a number they get to set without independent confirmation.