Gaza cease-fire window opens hours after Israeli strike kills militant leader

A seven-hour humanitarian cease-fire period began in the Gaza Strip Monday, hours after an Israeli airstrike killed a leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group. 
The group said that its commander in the northern part of the strip, Daniel Mansour, died when the Israeli strike hit his home just before dawn Monday. The Islamic Jihad group is an ally of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. However, The Wall Street Journal reported that Islamic Jihad may be using the present fighting to increase its clout in the region.
U.S. and Israeli officials told the paper that Islamic Jihad has closer ties to Iran than Hamas, and said the group might have been pressured by Iran to continue fighting in defiance of any truce. 
The Israeli military said the cease-fire, which began at 10 a.m. local time (3 a.m. Eastern Time), would not apply to areas where troops were still operating and where they would respond to any attacks.
Israel has been drawing down its ground operation since the weekend but has kept up heavy aerial, offshore and artillery bombardments of the strip. The Gaza war, now in its fourth week, has left more than 1,800 Palestinians and more than 60 Israelis dead. However, it is unclear how many of the Palestinian dead are civilians. 
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the group was skeptical about the Israeli truce announcement. "We do not trust such a calm and call on our people to take caution," Zuhri said.
The Journal reported Monday that U.S. officials are concerned that divisions between the political and military wings of Hamas have contributed to difficulties in securing a lasting cease-fire. Since most of the militant group's political leaders -- who are more likely to support a truce -- live outside of Gaza, officials and analysts say that it is possible that their messages are not being transmitted quickly enough to fighters on the ground.
Israel launched its military operation in Gaza on July 8 in response to weeks of heavy rocket fire and has since carried out more than 4,600 airstrikes across the crowded seaside territory. It sent in ground forces on July 17 in what it said was a mission to destroy the tunnels used by Hamas to carry out attacks inside Israel.
Since the fighting erupted, Hamas has fired more than 3,200 rockets into Israel, many of them intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defense system.
Overnight, Israeli forces carried out new airstrikes while Israeli tanks and navy gunboats fired dozens of artillery shells, targeting houses, agricultural plots and open areas, Gaza police said. They said Israeli jet fighters destroyed three mosques, nine houses, five seaside chalets and a warehouse for construction material.
The Gaza police said Israeli navy boats also approached the northern coast of the strip and soldiers tried to land in the area. On the ground, there were clashes in the southern town of Rafah and southeast of Gaza City, they said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
U.N. officials claim more than three-quarters of the dead in the war have been civilians, including the 10 people killed Sunday at a U.N. school that has been converted into a shelter in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the attack a "moral outrage and a criminal act" and demanded a quick investigation, while the U.S. State Department condemned the strike in unusually strong language.
According to witnesses, Israeli strikes hit just outside the main gates of the school on Sunday. The Red Crescent, a charity, said the attack occurred while people were in line to get food from aid workers. Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said in addition to the dead, 35 people were wounded.
Robert Turner, director of operations for the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza, said the building had been providing shelter for some 3,000 people. He said the strike killed at least one U.N. staffer.
"The locations of all these installations have been passed to the Israeli military multiple times," Turner said. "They know where these shelters are. How this continues to happen, I have no idea."
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said Sunday that Israel had detected some 30 tunnels that were dug along the border and had substantially minimized "this huge threat."
But he warned the operation was not over and that Israel would continue to target Hamas' rocket-firing capabilities and its ability to infiltrate Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under international pressure to halt the fighting due to the heavy reported civilian death toll.
U.N. shelters in Gaza have been struck by fire seven times in the latest Israeli-Hamas round of fighting. UNRWA, the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees, says Israel has been the source of fire in all instances. But it also has said it found caches of rockets in vacant UNRWA schools three times.
Israel accuses Hamas of using civilian areas for cover and says the Islamic militant group is responsible for the heavy death toll because it has been using civilians as "human shields."
Israeli artillery shells slammed into two high-rise office buildings Sunday in downtown Gaza City, police and witnesses said. Al-Kidra said more than 50 Palestinians were killed, including 10 members of one family in a single strike in the southern Gaza Strip.
Israel said that it attacked 63 sites on Sunday and that nearly 100 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel.

Obama Cartoon

Report: Bill Clinton Has Earned $104.9 Million in Speaking Fees Since 2001

While in office this guy was impeached? But he's still making big bucks talking, what the hell is this world coming too! 

 Click to read more:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2014/06/27/report-bill-clinton-has-earned-1049-million-in-speaking-fees-since-2001-n1856549

SUNY paid Hillary Clinton $275K for speech

http://nypost.com/2014/07/16/suny-paid-hillary-clinton-275k-for-speech/

Israeli forces begin regrouping near Gaza border after Netanyahu issues new warning to Hamas

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/08/03/israeli-forces-regroup-near-gaza-border-after-netanyahu-issues-new-warning-to/

Pelosi confronts GOP congressman in rancorous House debate

A heated debate over the southern border crisis late Friday led to a rancorous confrontation on the floor of the House between House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa.
The dustup began when Marino accused Democrats of neglecting the immigration issue during their control of the White House and Congress in 2009 and 2010, saying that the party is now exploiting the issue for political gains.
"Under the leadership of their former leader, when in 2009 and 2010, they had the House, the Senate and the White House, and they knew this problem existed," Marino said. "They didn't have the strength to go after it back then. But now are trying to make a political issue out of it."
Soon after he made the remarks, Pelosi, in full view of House cameras, walked across the chamber to the GOP side of the aisle -- a rarity in the House -- to challenge Marino.
It was not clear what Pelosi said, but Marino responded immediately.
"It's true, madam leader, I did the research on it," Marino said. "You might want to try it. You might want to try it, madam leader. Do the research on it. Do the research. I did it. That's one thing that you don't do."
Reps. Ted Poe, R-Texas, Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Kay Granger, R-Texas, seated behind Marino, looked stunned at Pelosi's actions. The presiding officer, Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., told Marino to direct his comments through the chair and not at a fellow member.
"Well, it works both ways," says Marino.
After things seemed to calm down, Marino said, "apparently I hit the right nerve."
Pelosi then walked briskly across the chamber, making a beeline for Marino and shaking her finger at the congressman.
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., could be heard saying off-camera, "what is she doing?"
After he was done speaking, Pelosi then pursued Marino through the chamber, and House chamber security were seen walking through the chamber.
Marino and Pelosi apparently spoke afterwards.
Pelosi spokeswoman Evangeline George told The Hill that Pelosi "just wanted to remind the Congressman that House Democrats had the courage to pass the DREAM Act -- and have the courage to stand up for what the American people want: bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform."  
She said that Pelosi accepted Marino's apology.
Marino told reporters afterward that he told Pelosi that his remarks were not meant to be personal or directed specifically toward her, The Hill reported.
Marino later took to Twitter to comment on the confrontation.
The House legislation, which adds additional funding for the National Guard and includes policy changes meant to speed deportations of illegal immigrant children surging across the southern border, was approved on a 223-189 vote, largely along party lines.

Israel bombards Gaza Strip, searches for missing soldier

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/08/02/israel-bombards-gaza-strip-searches-for-missing-soldier/?intcmp=latestnews

No cease-fire: Israel pounds Gaza after Hamas reportedly kidnapped Israeli soldier

The Democrats may stand with Hamas, but not this Blogger.

Tank fire and airstrikes pummeled Gaza, as Israeli forces moved deeper into the West Bank, searching for a soldier apparently captured by Hamas militants, despite a three-day cease-fire that didn't even last two hours Friday.   
The suspected kidnapping occurred shortly after a heavy exchange of gunfire erupted in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Militants reportedly emerged from a tunnel shaft before a suicide bomber detonated himself, one senior Israel Defense Forces source told The Jerusalem Post.
Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old 2nd Lt. from the central Israeli town of Kfar Saba, was apparently captured during the ensuing mayhem and taken back into Gaza through a tunnel, while another two soldiers were killed.
At least 62 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed in the fierce fighting that quickly shattered an internationally brokered cease-fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Secretary of State John Kerry that Hamas militants will ”bear the consequences of their actions, ” after reports of the kidnapping. Netanyahu told Kerry by phone Friday that Israel will continue to defense itself against attacks, Jewish newspaper Algemeiner reported.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu told U.S. Secretary of State Kerry that Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip will bear the consequences of their actions and that Israel would take all necessary steps against those who call for our destruction and perpetrate terrorism against our citizens,” an Israeli government press office statement read.
Kerry issued a statement while traveling back to the U.S. from India Friday, condemning the violence in Gaza and possible kidnapping of the Israeli soldier, calling it an ‘”outrageous violation of the cease-fire. “
“Hamas, which has security control over the Gaza Strip, must immediately and unconditionally release the missing Israeli soldier, and I call on those with influence over Hamas to reinforce this message,” Kerry’s statement said.

“The international community must now redouble its efforts to end the tunnel and rocket attacks by Hamas terrorists on Israel and the suffering and loss of civilian life,” the statement concluded.   
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon blamed Hamas for violating the cease-fire and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the missing soldier.
A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, would neither confirm nor deny the capture, saying it was being used -- along with news that two Israeli soldiers were killed in the Rafah area -- as a cover for a "massacre."
The Israeli military said the heavy shelling in Rafah that followed was part of operational and intelligence activity designed to locate Goldin. 62 Palestinians died and at least 400 were wounded in Rafah, Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said. Rescue workers were searching for people buried under the rubble, he added. He did not say whether those killed were civilians or militants.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor sent a letter to U.N. Secretary –General Ban Ki-moon Friday, calling for the U.N. to condemn Hamas for violating the cease-fire and preventing humanitarian assistance in Gaza.  The letter also demanded Hamas be held responsible for murdering and kidnapping Israelis, and called for the missing soldier’s safe return.
“While Israel agreed to this cease-fire to allow humanitarian relief for the people of Gaza, Hamas agreed so that it could plan and carry out an attack and kidnap a soldier.  Hamas has sent hundreds of suicide bombers into our cities and towns and kidnapped our children.  In the last month, Hamas has also launched 3,073 rockets into Israel. How much more evidence is needed before the United Nations will finally designate Hamas as a terrorist organization and call for its disarmament?” the letter read.
Britain’s Channel 4 News reported that the soldier is from a family of British-Jewish immigrants and is a cousin – either second or third – of Israeli's defense minister, Moshe Ya'alon.
The cease-fire took effect at 8 a.m. local time and was expected to last for a period of 72 hours.  Both Israel and Hamas accused each other of breaking the cease-fire within two hours of its start.      
U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said Friday if the soldier was, in fact, kidnapped by Hamas militants, it was a “barbaric violation of the cease-fire agreement,” and he must be immediately released.
"We urge those with influence over Hamas to exercise that influence to get Hamas to return the soldier that has been taken hostage and to live up to the agreements that were made just yesterday," Blinken said.
"There's no doubt that that soldier should be returned unharmed and immediately."

"Once again, Hamas and the terror organizations in Gaza have blatantly broken the cease-fire to which they committed."- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

United Nations Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace Robert Serry’s office issued a statement Friday, following reports of the cease-fire violation, urging Palestinian parties to reaffirm their commitment to the ceasefire.
“Serry is deeply concerned regarding the serious consequences on the ground that could arise as a result of this incident. He will continue his efforts to contain the violence and the risk of renewed escalation,” the statement said.   
A tweet from the official account of the Israel Defense Forces said that eight rockets and mortars were fired at Israel from Gaza, one of which was intercepted while the other seven hit "open areas."
"Once again, Hamas and the terror organizations in Gaza have blatantly broken the cease-fire to which they committed, this time before the American Secretary of State and the U.N. Secretary General," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in an earlier statement Friday.
An Israeli official said the apparent abduction marked a "very dangerous escalation of violence" and that there would be no three-day humanitarian cease-fire. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The U.S. and U.N. said they had gotten assurances that all parties to the conflict had agreed to an unconditional cease-fire during which there would be negotiations on a more durable truce.
The Israeli Cabinet held a rare session after the start of the Jewish Sabbath on Friday evening to weigh options, including whether to expand the 25-day-old operation against Hamas.
If confirmed, Goldin's capture could dramatically change the trajectory of the conflict. Any cease-fire efforts would likely be put on hold and Israel might instead expand its ground operation. Israel has in the past gone to great lengths to return captured soldiers. In 2011, it traded hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier who had been captured by Hamas-allied militants in 2006.
The conflict has already devastated large swaths of the coastal area and killed at least 1,500 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to Palestinian officials. Israel has lost 63 soldiers and three civilians.
Ambulances ferried the wounded to Rafah's al-Najar hospital, where bloodied bodies on stretchers were carried inside and family members frantically searched for loved ones. Many of the injured were young children, their clothes stained with blood. In one hospital room, four children were treated on a single bed.  
"We are under fire. Every minute or so, tanks fire shells," said Ayman al-Arja, 45, a resident of the area.
Despite the collapse of the latest truce, an Egyptian government official said Cairo had not canceled its invitation for Palestinians and Israelis to hold talks there. "Invitations were delivered already to the delegations," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.