Israeli troops being redeployed, not withdrawn from Gaza: Netanyahu

Ruth Pollard

Middle East Correspondent

Israeli tanks appeared to be pulling back from a number of border towns around Gaza, as its military continued an intensive bombardment of the southern city of Rafah in the search for the missing Israeli soldier.

But a suggestion that Israel may unilaterally withdraw its ground troops from Gaza in the next 48 hours appeared unlikely, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying however long it takes and with whatever force is required, Israel would bring back peace to its border.

I will not say when the operation is going to end. We will redeploy in places that are good for us to create less friction. 

“I will not say when the operation is going to end. We will redeploy in places that are good for us to create less friction,” Mr Netanyahu said in a televised media conference on Saturday night.

Adding to the confusion, the Israel Defence Forces announced that it would soon have destroyed all the tunnels built by Hamas from Gaza into southern Israeli towns.

Palestinian residents of towns including Beit Lahiya and east of Shajaiyah were told by the IDF on Saturday afternoon they could return to their homes, but there was a large degree of suspicion about whether it was safe for them to do so.

Even though people are desperate to go home, or at least attempt to recover some personal items from the rubble, most have chosen to say in the overcrowded UN schools that are providing a temporary home for up to 250,000 Palestinians.

At least three temporary ceasefires have collapsed in the last week, leaving thousands of Palestinians who elected to return to their villages and towns stranded in live fire zones, with Israeli tanks firing shells and heavy artillery around them.

Hamas and its military wing have denied they have any knowledge of the missing soldier, Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldi, who Israel says has been captured by militants.

Associate Professor of political science at al-Azhar University in Gaza, Mkhaimar Abusada, says Hamas is now in a position of strength, moving from a state of political and economic weakness to the centre of the political stage.

“One of the main goals for Hamas has been the end of the siege of its borders,” Prof Abusada says. ”With the capture of the Israeli soldier it has now moved beyond that demand to the release of Palestinian prisoners.

“In Gaza we know that many people are very angry with Israel because of the destruction of Beit Lahiya, Shajaiyah and Rafah … but there are also so many Palestinians left homeless that it is generating some private criticism of Hamas as well.”

The most that can be achieved from negotiaions in Cairo on Sunday is a unified Palestinian voice on the conflict and some concrete proposals for ending the siege and a two-state solution, he says.

Israel has already said it will not attend the Cairo talks, which were designed to capitalise on the 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire that collapsed on Friday. A Palestinian delegation, minus representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, arrived in Egypt on Saturday.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the organisation had no information about the missing Israeli soldier.

“I do not mean that we regret capturing soldiers, we want them for the release of our prisoners in Israeli jails.

“We are not kidnapping them in Tel Aviv,” he said. “They are in Gaza and they are here to kill women and children.”

He said the IDF was undertaking a “scorched earth” policy in Gaza, admitting that Palestinians had lost a lot since this war had begun.

“But 1.8 million Palestinians were dying slowly before the war because of the siege, we had no option but to act for our survival.”

At least 1676 Palestinians have died since Israel’s military operations began on July 8, while almost 9078 have been injured. An estimated 80 per cent have been civilians, including 343 children.

Israel has lost 63 soldiers and three civilians, including a Thai national, were killed.

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Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/israeli-troops-being-redeployed-not-withdrawn-from-gaza-netanyahu-20140803-zzw3k.html#ixzz39GwXdreO