| By MATTHEW LEE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Following the quick collapse of the cease-fire in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the White House not to force a truce with Palestinian militants on Israel.
Sources familiar with conversations between Netanyahu and senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, say the Israeli leader advised the Obama administration "not to ever second guess me again" on the matter. The officials also said Netanyahu said he should be "trusted" on the issue and about the unwillingness of Hamas to enter into and follow through on cease-fire talks.
The Obama administration on Friday condemned "outrageous" violations of an internationally brokered Gaza cease-fire by Palestinian militants and called the apparent abduction of an Israeli soldier a "barbaric" action.
The strong reaction came as top Israeli officials questioned the effort to forge the truce, accusing the U.S. and the United Nations of being naive in assuming the radical Hamas movement would adhere with its terms. The officials also blamed the Gulf state of Qatar for not forcing the militants to comply.
With the cease-fire in tatters fewer than two hours after it took effect with an attack that killed two Israeli troops and left a third missing, President Barack Obama demanded that those responsible release the soldier.
Obama and other U.S. officials did not directly blame Hamas for the abduction. But they made clear they hold Hamas responsible for, or having influence over, the actions of all factions in the Gaza Strip. The language was a distinct change from Thursday when Washington was focused on the deaths of Palestinian civilians.
"If they are serious about trying to resolve this situation, that soldier needs to be unconditionally released as soon as possible," Obama told reporters. He added that it would be difficult to revive the cease-fire without the captive's release.
"It's going to be very hard to put a cease-fire back together again if Israelis and the international community can't feel confident that Hamas can follow through on a cease-fire commitment," he said. His comment reflected uncertainty in the U.S. and elsewhere that Hamas was actually responsible for the incident or if some other militant group was to blame.
At the same time, Obama called the situation in Gaza "heartbreaking" and repeated calls for Israel to do more to prevent Palestinian civilian casualties.
Despite the collapse of the truce, Obama credited Kerry for his work with the United Nations to forge one. He lamented criticism and "nitpicking" of Kerry's attempts and said the effort would continue.
Kerry negotiated the truce with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon in a marathon session of phone calls over several days while he was in India on an official visit. Kerry had spent much of the past two weeks in Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and France trying to mediate a cease-fire with Qatar and Turkey playing a major role because of their close ties with Hamas.
Those efforts failed with Israel saying it could not trust Hamas and some Israelis and American pro-Israel groups complaining that the U.S. was treating the group — a foreign terrorist organization as designated by the State Department — as a friend.
Late Thursday, however, Israel accepted Kerry and Ban's latest proposal, despite its reservations. Once the truce was violated, though, Israeli officials hit out at not only Hamas, but the United States and Qatar for its failure.
An Israeli official said the Netanyahu government viewed both Hamas and Qatar as having violated the commitment given to the U.S. and the U.N. and that it expected the international community to take practical steps as part of a "strong and swift response," especially regarding the return of the abducted soldier.
In a phone call with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, Netanyahu vented his anger, according to people familiar with the call.
Netanyahu told Shapiro the Obama administration was "not to ever second-guess me again" and that Washington should trust his judgment on how to deal with Hamas, according to the people. Netanyahu added that he now "expected" the U.S. and other countries to fully support Israel's offensive in Gaza, according to those familiar with the call. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter by name.
They said Netanyahu made similar points to Kerry, who himself denounced the attack as "outrageous," saying it was an affront to assurances to respect the cease-fire given to the United States and United Nations, which brokered the truce.
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AP National Security Writer Lara Jakes at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, contributed to this report.
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Today 7:27 PM EDT
More On The Announcement About Hadar Goldin
Israel's military has declared dead a soldier who was previously believed captured by Hamas gunmen in Gaza violence that shattered a temporary ceasefire.
The military announced early Sunday morning that 23-year-old Hadar Goldin of the Givati infantry brigade had been killed in battle on Friday.
Israel's defense minister, along with the chief military rabbi, met with the soldier's family at their home in the town of Kfar Saba.
Hundreds of well-wishers from around Israel gathered outside their home, praying and showing their support. There was an outpouring of grief among the crowd when the military's announcement was made public.
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Today 6:08 PM EDT
Netanyahu: Operation Protective Edge In Gaza Continuing
The Office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Friday night statement that the Israeli military's operations in Gaza would continue until its objectives of the "restoration of quiet" for the citizens of Israel.
Video of his statement:
Text of his statements was posted on the Facebook page of the Office Of The Prime Minister of Israel.
-- Andrew Hart
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Today 4:46 PM EDT
PHOTO: Shelling On Gaza Border
An Israeli artillery cannon fires a shell on August 02, 2014 on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. (Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)
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Today 4:11 PM EDT
Netanyahu Praises U.S. Support
Barak Ravid, diplomatic correspondent of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, quote Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
Earlier, the Associated Press reported that Netanyahu had warned the Obama administration "not to ever second guess me again" regarding Hamas after a previous ceasefire collapsed.
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Today 2:59 PM EDT
Netanyahu: Hamas Will Pay 'Intolerable' Price For More Attacks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened on Saturday to exact an "intolerable price" from the Gaza Strip's dominant Hamas Islamists should there be continued attacks from the Palestinian territory.
"We do not accept a continuation of the shooting," Netanyahu told reporters. "It (Hamas) will have to understand, however long that takes, that it will pay an intolerable price, from its perspective, for continuation of the shooting."
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Today 2:54 PM EDT
More From Netanyahu's Press Conference
Israel is prepared to continue fighting Palestinian guerrillas in the Gaza Strip after the army completes its primary mission of destroying cross-border tunnels from the territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.
"After completing the anti-tunnel operation, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will act and continue to act, in accordance with our security needs and only according to our defense needs, until we achieve our objective of restoring security to you, Israel's citizens," he said in a televised speech.
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Today 2:35 PM EDT
Netanyahu: Operation In Gaza To Continue
Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem Post Steve Linde tweets Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's press conference:
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Today 2:29 PM EDT
Hamas Leader Says Group Rejected Israeli Troop Presence During Ceasefire
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told CNN that the group had rejected a condition that Israel keep its forces inside Gaza and continue to destroy tunnels during a ceasefire period.
Meshaal said the U.S. and Israel were aware of Hamas' stance. "We told everyone that this is our position. ... Therefore they are the ones who should be responsible for this," he told CNN.
Read the full story here.
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Today 1:26 PM EDT
TV: Some Israeli Ground Forces Withdraw From GazaSome Israeli ground forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, two Israeli television stations reported, after the military said it was close to achieving its main war goal of destroying Hamas cross-border tunnels.Asked about the reports, an Israeli military spokesman said she could not comment on troop deployments.
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Today 12:53 PM EDT
More On Congress Approval For Iron Dome Funding
The U.S. Congress approved 5 million in emergency funding for Israel's "Iron Dome" missile defense system on Friday, sending the measure to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.
The House of Representatives approved the funding by a 395-8 vote late on Friday, several hours after the Senate passed it unanimously.
The money would be used to replenish Israel's arsenal of Iron Dome interceptor missiles, many of which have been used to shoot down short-range rockets fired from Gaza into populated areas of Israel in the current three-week-long conflict.
An earlier version of the funding plan had failed on Thursday when Senate Republicans blocked a broader spending bill that was largely intended to provide money to handle the current immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Read the full story here.
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Today 12:39 PM EDT
Official: Egypt Increases Electricity To GazaEgypt has increased the amount of electricity it provides to Gaza and urged Israel to repair power lines damaged during Israeli bombardment that has left at least one million people without electricity, an Egyptian official said on Saturday.The official told Reuters that Egypt has added an extra seven megawatts to the 27 it feeds into Gaza and plans to increase that by 15 megawatts more in an effort to alleviate the electricity crisis.
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Today 12:08 PM EDT
Israel Pulls Back Some Troops From Central GazaIsraeli troops and tanks pulled out of a central sector of the Gaza Strip and moved closer to the border Saturday, as its military invited Palestinians to return to one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the coastal strip.Israeli media reports Saturday suggested that the military planned to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza and declare victory in the weekslong war that Palestinian officials say has killed more than 1,650 people there.Authorities in Israel, which has lost 63 soldiers and three civilians in the war, declined to immediately comment on the reports, but the move would mirror Israeli strategy in previous wars there.
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Today 11:55 AM EDT
Israel: 47% Of Gaza Dead Were CombatantsIsrael has evidence that almost half of Palestinians killed in the 25-day-old Gaza war were combatants, its deputy foreign minister said on Saturday, pushing back against international allegations of a lopsidedly heavy civilian death toll.Gazan human rights groups say at least 80 percent of the 1,669 Palestinians killed have been non-combatants, including hundreds of children. The U.N. Human Rights Council last week accused the Israelis of "disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks" and launched an inquiry into possible war crimes.Israel, which has lost 63 soldiers and 3 civilians to the fighting, says it has done everything possible to avoid harming innocents and that Gaza's dominant Hamas Islamists invite such casualties by operating in densely populated areas."There is research being done in the military, very professionally and reliably, (whose) conclusion is that at least 47% of the fatalities are terrorists, with photographs and names," Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel's Channel Two television, adding that the data would be presented to investigators.
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Today 11:29 AM EDT
PHOTO: Yeats Poetry In Gaza
Nick Casey, Middle East Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, posts a photo from the wreckage of the Islamic University in Gaza, hit by an Israeli airstrike earlier Saturday.
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Today 10:55 AM EDT
9th UN Staff Member Killed In Gaza
Spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees Chris Gunness writes:
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Today 10:34 AM EDT
Palestinian Delegation Heads To Truce TalksEgypt's President said on Saturday a ceasefire plan proposed by his country offered the chance to end the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas, but warned that lost time further complicated matters."The Egyptian initiative is a real chance to find a real solution to the crisis taking place in the Gaza Strip," Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told a joint press conference in Cairo with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi."Lost time ...complicates the situation more and more."A Palestinian Liberation Organization delegation led by senior official Azzam Al-Ahmed will fly into Cairo from Jordan for talks, a Palestinian official in Ramallah said. Exiled officials from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group will also join the negotiations.But following a breakdown of a truce on Friday, Hamas officials in Gaza will not attend.
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Today 10:08 AM EDT
PHOTO: Gaza University Damaged In Bombing
An Islamic University guard inspects the damage to the institution, which was hit in an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Aug. 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
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Today 9:55 AM EDT
Israel Holds Off Attending Gaza Truce TalksIsrael will not send envoys to Gaza truce negotiations in Egypt on Saturday as planned, an Israeli official said, accusing enemy Palestinian Islamists of misleading international mediators."Hamas is not interested in an accommodation," the official said on condition of anonymity.An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire on Friday broke down within hours on Friday, with Israel and Hamas trading blame. A Palestinian delegation including Hamas officials was due to arrive later on Saturday in Cairo for new talks.
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Today 9:48 AM EDT
Israel: Refugees From North Gaza Town Can ReturnThe Israeli military told Palestinians who had fled fighting in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya they could return on Saturday, signalling its offensive in the area was winding down."The residents are advised to beware of explosive devices Hamas has spread across the area," the military said in a statement summarising what it said had been all-clear messages relayed to Beit Lahiya's 70,000 residents.
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08/01/2014 7:46 PM EDT
CNN Criticized For Tweet On Gaza Ceasefire Failure
Criticism flourished online in response to a tweet from CNN's breaking news account, @cnnbrk, for its framing of how the 72-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was broken, The Blaze reports.
CNN's tweet sent early Friday morning:
How the ceasefire was broken is disputed, and Twitter users took issue with CNN's reporting. The Blaze rounded up some of the backlash on Twitter.
More on The Blaze.
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08/01/2014 6:20 PM EDT
A Look At The Israeli Soldiers Captured In The Past
After the reported abduction of Hadar Goldin in Gaza, the Associated Press looks back at the Israeli soldiers who have been captured before.
From the AP:
In the past, Israel has gone to great lengths to return captured soldiers, including large-scale military operations and lopsided prisoner swaps to return its captured troops.
Read the story here.
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08/01/2014 5:38 PM EDT
Hamas Spox Talks To CNN About Missing Soldier
An Israeli soldier believed to have been kidnapped on Friday, may have been killed, injured or in hiding, a Hamas spokesman told CNN. Hamas officials have denied knowledge of the whereabouts of Hadar Goldin.
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08/01/2014 3:21 PM EDT
Fighting Flares Near Site Of Soldier Abduction
The Guardian reports that Israeli forces bombarded the town of Rafah in south Gaza after an Israeli soldier was reportedly abducted nearby.
The bombardment of Rafah appeared to reflect what the IDF called the "Hannibal directive", in which it responds to any capture of a soldier with heavy fire aimed at stopping the captors leaving the scene, even if it risks injury to the Israeli prisoner.
Palestinian officials noted a high death toll, while the United Nations reported that it had opened additional shelters in the area.
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08/01/2014 3:10 PM EDT
Obama Calls For Unconditional Release Of Captured Israeli Soldier
President Barack Obama took questions during a briefing at the White House on Friday, where he addressed the situation in Israel.
Obama reiterated his support for Israel's right to defend itself and condemned Hamas and Palestinian militants after a cease-fire in the Gaza conflict unraveled on Friday. He also called for the release of an Israeli soldier being held captive.
"I think it's important to note that we have, and I have, unequivocally condemned Hamas and the Palestinian factions that were responsible for killing two Israeli soldiers and abducting a third almost minutes after a cease-fire had been announced," Obama said, noting the U.N. has condemned them, as well.
"I want to make sure that they are listening. If they are serious about trying to resolve this situation, that solider needs to be unconditionally released as soon as possible," Obama continued.
Obama called the conflict "heartbreaking" and said he wants to see "everything possible done" to make sure Palestinian civilians aren't being killed in the conflict.
Read the full story here.
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08/01/2014 3:00 PM EDT
Obama: Ceasefire Efforts Will Continue, Will Take Some Time
President Obama said in a White House news briefing that the U.S. will continue to make efforts to achieve a new ceasefire, but acknowledged "its going to take some time."
"Its going to be very hard," Obama told reporters, blaming Hamas for the collapse of the previous ceasefire when an Israeli soldier was abducted in the Gaza Strip.
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08/01/2014 2:28 PM EDT
Israel Censor Wants To Pre-Approve New York Times Coverage Of Soldier
The Huffington Post's Michael Calderone reports that the New York Timesreceived a request from the Israeli military to withhold publishing further information about the soldier reportedly abducted by Palestinian militants until it was reviewed by a censor.
Calderone notes:
In April, the Times acknowledged withholding news that a 23-year-old Palestinian journalist had been arrested because of an Israeli court-imposed gag order. At the time, Jerusalem Bureau Chief Jodi Rudoren told Times’ Public Editor Margaret Sullivan that the paper is “indeed, bound by gag orders.”
Read the whole story here.
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