NOVANEWS
FAA lifts ban imposed on U.S.-Israel flights; Palestinian death toll in Gaza at over 770.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.606934
[for updates click on the link]
By Haaretz
Israel’s Operation Protective Edge entered its 17th day on Thursday, marking the 7th day of the IDF’s ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian death toll since Israel launched Operation Protective Edge surpassed the 770 mark, most of them since Israel entered Gaza a week ago.
Israel military fatalities stand at 32 since the operation commenced. 134 soldiers are currently hospitalized due to wounds incurred in the fighting, and one soldier is missing. The IDF has not announced the loss of any soldiers since Wednesday.
Israel asserted Thursday that the hospital it struck the day before was empty of patients and being used for missile attacks, while Palestinians asserted that 15 people were killed when a UNRWA school was hit by artillery fire on Thursday. [A UNRWA official stated on BBC TV that this was the 4th school that Israel had hit this week, and that all are used as refuge for Palestinians who have left their homes. D]
While U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Egypt pushing for a cease-fire, and Prime Minister Netanyahu was meeting with the British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in Israel, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah to present a list of Hamas and Palestinian Authority truce demands.
9:26 P.M. Hamas political bureau head Khaled Meshal says Hamas is prepared to sign a ceasefire agreement – on the condition that Israel’s siege of Gaza is rescinded.
“We seek full international commitment to the end of the aggression and the siege over Gaza – real commitment,” he told several Arabic-language media outlets. “We are not interested in the mechanism, what we are interested in are true guarantees that the siege be lifted. We have gotten such promises before, and nothing came of them.”
“We want an international airport, we want a seaport, we want an opening to the outside world, and not the situation where we are controlled by a few border crossings that turn Gaza into a huge prison, where no one can leave even for medical treatment or to work […] When we get a clearly worded drafting that guarantees these things, and the international community gives its backing to this draft – than the fire can be stopped, even today.” (Jack Khouri)
