Israeli Attack on Gaza: 2014 Version

[Lauren Johnson]

Hamas have confirmed they have captured an Israeli soldier. He was captured before the ceasefire. This will not go well. Rafah sounds like it already under massive attack. Bodies all over the streets and the medics cannot get to them.

Rafah possibly under fire because of the unstated Israeli policy called The Hannibal Directive. Summed up it states no Israeli soldier is to captured and left alive.

From MofA

A cease-fire between Gaza and Israel was announced for this morning at 8am local time. The Israeli defense forces continued to operate in Gaza and to destroy the Palestinian tunnels. Shortly before the official cease-fire start, according to Palestinian sources, a commando of Islamic Jihad fighters infiltrated the Israeli line through a tunnel, attacked a group of Israeli soldiers, killed several and captured one of them alive. This happened near the southern Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

The Israelis took a while to notice that a soldier had been captured but when they found out they immediately responded according to the Hannibal directive which demands to do everything possible to prevent that an Israeli soldier captured alive stays captured alive.

Accordingly, even before the capture of its soldier was publicly known, the Israeli army opened a barrage of artillery fire over south Gaza killing some 50 Palestinians and wounding more than 200 of them. These people were out in the streets and markets because they thought that the cease-fire was in place.

The cease-fire is for now over. It is unlikely that the Israelis have a chance to find their soldier.

Will they now again escalate and risk more possible captures or will they negotiate a new cease-fire and later the captured soldier's release?

Posted by b at 07:27 AM | Comments (44)