JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli defense official says the 16,000 additional reservists who are being called up will provide relief for troops who are currently fighting in Gaza. But Israeli officials have said they don’t rule out expanding the Gaza operation in the coming days.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to destroy the Hamas tunnel network. Israel says most of the 32 tunnels it has found have now been demolished, and that getting rid of the rest will take no more than a few days.
Palestinian health officials now say more than 1,422 Palestinians have been killed in the 23-day conflict with Israel. And that tops the number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s last major invasion of Gaza five years ago. At least 59 Israelis have been killed in the fighting — most of them soldiers.
The Israeli attacks continued today, killing more than 40 people. An Israeli, meanwhile, was seriously wounded when a Palestinian rocket exploded in a residential area of an Israeli city (Kiryat Gat). Another rocket was intercepted over Tel Aviv by Israel’s rocket defense system.
%@AP Links
134-a-06-(Ron Dermer, Israeli ambassador to United States, in interview)-“have to live that way”-Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer says Israel has no choice but to protect its people from continuing attacks by Hamas. COURTESY: NBC’s “Today” show ((mandatory on-air credit)) (31 Jul 2014)
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127-a-13-(Fawaz Gerges (FAH’-wahz JUR’-jehs), international relations professor, London School of Economics, in AP interview)-“predicament facing Israel”-Middle East analyst Fawaz Gerges, a professor at the London School of Economics, says even with all the border tunnels destroyed, Israel won’t have won the war. (31 Jul 2014)
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APPHOTO CAISH405: FILE – In this Tuesday, July 22, 2014, file photo, Israeli police officers secure a destroyed house that was hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza, in Yahud, a Tel Aviv suburb near the airport, central Israel. On Thursday, July 31, 2014, the U.N.’s top human rights official accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes in the current Gaza fighting. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty, File) (22 Jul 2014)
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