Gaza cease-fire unravels; Israeli soldier captured

Gaza cease-fire unravels; Israeli soldier captured

(CNN) — The latest attempt at an Israel-Hamas cease-fire disintegrated Friday. After the capture of an Israeli soldier, the conflict edged closer to escalation than to peace.

The soldier was “abducted” by Palestinian militants during an attack in Gaza in which two other Israeli soldiers died, Israeli military Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. The soldiers were decommissioning a tunnel at the time, Lerner said.

The Israel Defense Forces earlier identified soldier as 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin. A search operation is under way to find him, Lerner confirmed.

“We need to bring him home,” Lerner said later in the interview.

Hopes for an announced 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire between Israel and Hamas didn’t even last two hours, by some accounts. As has been a hallmark of the conflict, each side blamed the other for resuming the fighting.

CNN has the full article

You may also like...