Hamas Gets One Step Closer to Eliminating Israel

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="metadata" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 30px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">By</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><a class="contributor_name" href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-08-29/contributors/daniel-gordis" itemprop="author" rel="author" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Daniel Gordis</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div> <div class="article_body" itemprop="articleBody" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The cease-fire is holding. The sirens have stopped, the bomb shelters are being closed, most of the reservists have returned home. This weekend, for the first time in months, Israelis (like Gazans) will finally be able to exhale.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But the press, quite rightly, is reminding Israelis that peace is almost certainly not at hand. “Gaza war? Merely a blip on the Mideast radar,” <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.613068" rel="external" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Haaretz’s headline</a> read this morning.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The two sides have battered each other into a stalemate. Both accepted terms their leaders insisted they would never abide. Civilians on both sides have suffered, both have buried loved ones. Both are exhausted, utterly spent. And on both sides, the leadership is trying to convince its “constituency” (one of which votes, while the other cannot) that the gains were greater than the losses, that the other side has “learned its lesson.”</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But these surface similarities notwithstanding, there are enormous differences in the mindsets of the two sides; perhaps nothing captures those differences better than each side’s most basic dread.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Life for most Gazans (though not for all, for there is also a privileged class there) is bleak. So for Gazans (and for West Bank Palestinians, as well), the dread is that the status quo will remain. They fear that there will be no airport, no seaport, no relaxation of Israeli control over imports, no Palestinian State. What they most want is for things to change.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israelis have the opposite fear. They worry about the status quo slipping away. What Israelis dread is not the idea of a Palestinian State or a Gazan seaport, but the possibility (likelihood?) that those are just stepping-stones to a horrifying goal: the eradication of Israel altogether. Why would Israelis think that? Because Palestinian leadership makes it explicit.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Abbas Zaki, a member of Fatah's central committee -- Fatah, the party of Mahmoud Abbas, by the way, and not Hamas -- made it clear that every Israeli is a target. “There are,” <a href="http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=471&doc_id=12482" rel="external" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">he said,</a> “no innocent Israelis.”</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And how does Hamas plan to improve the lot of Palestinians? Not by ending the siege, not by making peace. Hamas’s goal, Israelis know, is the obliteration of the Jewish state. Khaled Mashaal, Hamas’s political head now hiding in Qatar, promised the other day that <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4565395,00.html" rel="external" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">this was not the last campaign</a> to liberate Palestine. Not Gaza, but Palestine. It is not open borders he wants, but no borders at all -- with Israel gone.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israelis believe him.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ismail Haniyeh, the former head of the Hamas regime in Gaza, sounded a similar theme. Despite the losses, he promised, Hamas would get the siege on Gaza lifted, and then would continue the battle to “<a href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Defiant-Haniyeh-vows-to-liberate-Palestine-after-Hamas-commanders-killed-by-Israel-371939" rel="external" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">liberate Jerusalem and Palestine</a> from the neo-Nazi occupier.”</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israelis believe him.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This battle to “liberate Jerusalem and Palestine” from an “occupier” evokes the <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2000/nov/19/opinion/op-54180" rel="external" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">common Palestinian claim</a> that Israelis are nothing but “Crusaders.” The point is clear. “You’re here now,” the Palestinians mean, “but the Christians eventually retreated, and we’ll get rid of you, too.”</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israelis hear that language, and know their enemies are serious.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Crusaders, in fact, are back in the news. When <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4564697,00.html" rel="external" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">an Israeli Defense Forces officer was hit this week by a bullet</a> fired by battling factions in Syria’s never-ending civil war, Israelis were worried about more than the question of whether the shooting was intentional or not. Aligned with the rebels, they know, are al-Qaeda units. “<a href="http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4565408,00.html" rel="external" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Al Qaeda on the Syrian border</a>,” was the lead headline on this morning’s YNet, one of Israel’s most-read news websites, “Israel watches with worry.” Attached to the article was <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-on-high-alert-in-golan-heights/" rel="external" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">a picture of Benny Gantz,</a> the IDF chief of staff, looking out at the Syrian border through powerful binoculars. The newest Crusaders are just over the border.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Al-Qaeda, like Islamic State, make no secret of its ultimate intentions. Israelis read, and Israelis listen. And Israelis believe them.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The battle with Hamas, as painful and as devastating as it was, was but one agonizing subplot in a much more ominous narrative. There’s the Muslim Brotherhood (temporarily stymied) in Egypt, Hamas (battered but not defeated) in Gaza, Hezbollah (awaiting Tehran’s command) in Lebanon, al-Qaeda on the Syrian border and Islamic State creeping ever closer. Israelis know what that means and what they will have to do to survive, whatever the international community may say or think.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It is thus no accident that one <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuk7c1VIaaA" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">old but much-beloved song</a> was played often on the radio here during the long summer weeks of war. “I Have No Other Country,” it is called.</span></div> <blockquote style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0.5625em 1.25em 0px 1.1875em; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I have no other county</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Even if my land is burning</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One Hebrew word</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Enters my veins, penetrates my soul</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">With an aching body and a hungry heart --</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This is my home.</span></div> </blockquote> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel is a country battered and angry, mourning and hurt. But it also a country filled with people who know that they have nowhere else to go, and that the Jewish People’s battle to stay in even part of their ancestral homeland may just be beginning all over again. Those in the international community who were troubled by Israel’s determination and firepower in the latest Gaza conflict will undoubtedly like even less what may be in store, just around the corner.</span></div> <div class="footnotes" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> </div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To contact the writer of this article: Daniel Gordis at danielgordis@outlook.com </span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To contact the editor responsible for this article: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net.</span></div> </div> </div>

Hamas Gets One Step Closer to Eliminating Israel

By   Daniel Gordis   The cease-fire is holding. The sirens have stopped, the bomb shelters are being closed, most of the reservists hav...

Read more »

Israeli leader declares victory in Gaza war

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="cover-wrap " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 30px; text-align: center; width: 718px;"> <div class=""> <div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"> <div class="cover-video-container " id="cover-video-container" style="height: 379px; width: 718px;"> <div class="yui3-videoplayer-content medium mobile webkit webkit537 safari safari537 ipad ipad7 ios ios7" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409168010004_1823" style="cursor: default; height: 379px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 718px;"> <div class="yui3-videoplayer-main" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409168010004_1822" style="height: 379px; position: relative; width: 718px;"> <div class="accessible-controls" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409168010004_1742" style="left: 0px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: left; top: 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><button class="play">Play</button><button class="seek-back">Seek Back 5 Seconds</button><button class="seek-forward">Seek Forward 5 Seconds</button><button class="volume-up">Volume Up</button><button class="volume-down">Volume Down</button><button class="mute">Mute</button><button class="next-video">Next Video</button><button class="hotkey-menu">Open Hotkey Menu</button></span></span></div> <div class="yui3-videoplayer-video" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; height: 379px; margin-top: -2000px; opacity: 0.001; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; width: 718px;"> <video controls="" style="bottom: 0px; display: inline-block; height: 379px; left: 0px; margin: auto; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 718px;" x-webkit-airplay="allow"></video><div class="yui3-videoplayer-yvap-container"> </div> </div> <div class="yui3-videoplayer-startscreen-container yui3-videoplayer-show yui3-videoplayer-transition" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; cursor: pointer; height: 379px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; width: 718px;"> <img class="yui3-videoplayer-startscreen-image inview" height="487" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/80xQmAzZZX_sPQQjTomY_g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM0MDE7cT03NTt3PTUwMDg-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/bd221cee87e2eb215d0f6a706700ff71.jpg" style="-webkit-transform: translateZ(0px); -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; opacity: 1 !important; text-align: left; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important; width: 718px;" width="718" /><div class="yui3-videoplayer-startscreen-bar-wrapper yui3-videoplayer-transition" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; height: 379px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; width: 718px;"> <div class="yui3-videoplayer-startscreen-bar" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; height: 379px; min-height: 75px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; width: 718px;"> <div class="yui3-videoplayer-startscreen-bar-right" style="background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, transparent, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961)); bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: -webkit-box; padding: 12px; position: absolute; width: 718px;"> <div class="yui3-videoplayer-startscreen-title-wrapper" style="max-height: 70px; overflow: hidden; text-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 0) 0px 1px 3px;"> <h3 class="yui3-videoplayer-startscreen-title" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px 0px 3px; text-align: left; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="color: white; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Gaza Cease-Fire Holds As Sides Weigh Gains</span></span></h3> <div class="yui3-videoplayer-startscreen-desc" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="color: white;">An open-ended cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip was holding Wednesday, as many wondered what was gained during 50 days</span> of fighting. (Aug. 27)</span></div> </div> </div> <div class="yui3-videoplayer-startscreen-ybang"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="yui3-videoplayer-startscreen-button" style="background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 50% 50%, 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 59px 50px; border-bottom-left-radius: 7px; border-bottom-right-radius: 7px; border-top-left-radius: 7px; border-top-right-radius: 7px; height: 45px; left: 50%; margin-left: -32px; margin-top: -22px; position: absolute; text-align: left; top: 50%; width: 65px;"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="body yom-art-content clearfix" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article" style="margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px 10px; zoom: 1;"> <div class="yom-ad yom-ad-LREC" id="yom-ad-LREC" style="border: none; clear: both; float: right; height: 250px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1em 10px; max-height: 250px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit; width: 300px;"> <div class="darla" id="sb_rel_yom-ad-LREC-iframe" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); display: inline-block; height: 250px; position: relative; visibility: inherit; width: 300px; z-index: 9;"> <iframe allowtransparency="true" async="" frameborder="no" hidefocus="true" id="yom-ad-LREC-iframe" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://l.yimg.com/rq/darla/2-8-1/html/r-sf.html" style="display: block; height: 250px; left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; max-height: none; max-width: none; min-height: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; top: 0px; visibility: inherit; width: 300px; z-index: 10;" tabindex="-1"></iframe></div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister declared victory Wednesday in the recent war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saying the military campaign had dealt a heavy blow and a cease-fire deal gave no concessions to the Islamic militant group.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Benjamin Netanyahu's comments, delivered in a prime-time address on national television, appeared aimed at countering critics of the seven-week war that killed more than 2,200 people.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Both hard-liners in his governing coalition, as well as residents of rocket-scarred southern Israel, have said the war was a failure because it did not halt Hamas' rocket attacks or oust the group from power.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Hamas was hit hard," Netanyahu said, adding that Israel "didn't agree to accept any of Hamas' demands" under the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire deal.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The ambiguous cease-fire delivered an immediate halt in the fighting and has promised an easing of Israel's blockade of Gaza to allow humanitarian aid and construction goods to enter for the rebuilding of the territory. All goods are to go in under international supervision.</span></div> <div class="body-related" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 7.5px; margin-left: 7.5px; position: relative;"> <a class="body-related-link body-related-slideshow go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize " data-list-id="008131b0-1e3e-11e4-9ffe-d965276dd13e" data-pos="1" data-rapid_p="7" data-type="slideshow" data-ylk="t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:embd;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:img;elmt:ct;itc:1;g:886f251d-b5eb-35a6-8587-32201105f206;aid:008131b0-1e3e-11e4-9ffe-d965276dd13e;ct:4;cpos:1;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/hamas-says-gaza-war-not-over-slideshow/" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Hamas says Gaza war not over"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"> <span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: 0px; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span><img alt="Hamas says Gaza war not over" class="body-related-thumb inview" data-src-2x="" height="194" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/9whteKn5E5usPl8NbZPapA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE5NDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/a2ff9de38824ed215d0f6a706700d92c.jpg" style="-webkit-transform: translateZ(0px); -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div> </a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A ball of fire rises from an explosion following an Israeli air strike on the house of Nafez Azzam,  …</span></div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But Hamas' key demands are only to be addressed in a future round of talks expected next month in Cairo. Hamas is seeking an end to the Israeli blockade, including the reopening of Gaza's sea and airport. It also wants Egypt to reopen its Rafah border crossing, the territory's main gateway to the outside world. Israel, meanwhile, wants Hamas to be disarmed.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Netanyahu said Israel "will not tolerate" any more rocket fire, and if the attacks resume, "we will respond even harder."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel carried out thousands of airstrikes and other attacks on Hamas targets in the war. More than 2,000 Palestinians were killed, most of them civilians, according to U.N. and Palestinian figures. On the Israeli side, 70 people were killed, all but six soldiers.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel says Hamas is responsible for the heavy Palestinian civilian death toll, noting that militants carried out attacks from residential areas and often used apartment buildings, mosques or schools for cover. The Israeli attacks destroyed or damaged thousands of buildings, leaving an estimated 100,000 people homeless.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Despite the heavy damage, Hamas also has claimed victory, saying the Israeli assault failed to stop its rocket and mortar fire. It has boasted that it forced thousands of Israelis living in border communities to evacuate their homes, and that it controlled when the people could come home.</span></div> <div class="body-related" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 7.5px; margin-left: 7.5px; position: relative;"> <a class="body-related-link body-related-slideshow go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize " data-list-id="7d6806b0-2d5f-11e4-87ff-fc5838da411c" data-pos="2" data-rapid_p="8" data-type="slideshow" data-ylk="t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:embd;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:img;elmt:ct;itc:1;g:886f251d-b5eb-35a6-8587-32201105f206;aid:7d6806b0-2d5f-11e4-87ff-fc5838da411c;ct:4;cpos:2;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/cease-fire-celebrated-in-gaza-slideshow/" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Cease-fire celebrated in Gaza"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"> <span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: 0px; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span><img alt="Cease-fire celebrated in Gaza" class="body-related-thumb inview" data-src-2x="" height="187" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/KotyxD3Ur0F8c947OTXslQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE4NztxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/Part-NIC-Nic6365362-1-1-0.jpg" style="-webkit-transform: translateZ(0px); -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div> </a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Palestinians flash the sign of victory atop a vehicle, as people celebrate a deal reached between Ha …</span></div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Gaza, masked militants gathered on the rubble of destroyed homes in the Shijaiyah neighborhood, site of some of the heaviest fighting, to declare victory. The men displayed heavy machine guns, mortar shells, rockets and anti-tank missiles. Hundreds of residents gathered around the militants, taking pictures with them and their weapons.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Hamas military wing, stood over an Israeli flag as he addressed the crowd.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Gaza achieved victory because it has done what major armies failed to do. It forced the enemy to retreat," he said. "We must know that no voice is louder than the voice of the resistance."</span></div> <div> <br /></div> </div> </div>

Israeli leader declares victory in Gaza war

Play Seek Back 5 Seconds Seek Forward 5 Seconds Volume Up Volume Down Mute Next Video Open Hotkey Menu Gaza Cease-Fire Ho...

Read more »

Diffuse Hamas structure complicates Gaza peace efforts

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"> <br /></h1> <div class="relatedRai" id="relatedInlineVideo"> </div> <div id="slideshowInlineLarge" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; width: 580px;"> <div class="photoControls" id="photoControls" style="bottom: 20px; height: 31px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 580px; z-index: 3;"> <div class="photoNav" style="float: right; height: 31px; margin: 0px; position: relative; right: 15px; width: 62px;"> <div class="photoControls_inner" style="height: 31px; margin: 0px 4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3px;"> <a href="" id="prevButton" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin-top: 2px; outline: none;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img height="31px" src="http://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/btn_articleslide_previous.png" style="border: none; outline: none;" width="25px" /></span></a><a href="" id="nextButton" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin-top: 2px; outline: none;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img height="31px" src="http://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/btn_articleslide_next.png" style="border: none; outline: none;" width="25px" /></span></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-displayer" id="displayFrame" style="float: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 580px;"> <div class="yui-sldshw-active yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 580px; z-index: 2;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic0" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSKBN0GP1JO20140825#a=1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none;" target="_top"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal talks during a news conference in Doha July 23, 2014. REUTERS-Stringer" id="image0" src="http://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140825&t=2&i=966885174&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=378&r=LYNXMPEA7O0OV" style="border: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; position: relative;" /></span></a></div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic1" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSKBN0GP1JO20140825#a=2" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_top"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Deputy chairman of Hamas' political bureau Moussa Abu Marzouk talks during an interview with Reuters in Cairo, August 9, 2014. REUTERS-Asmaa Waguih" id="image1" src="http://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140825&t=2&i=966885177&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=378&r=LYNXMPEA7O0OW" style="border: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; position: relative;" /></span></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="rolloverCaption" id="captionContent" style="bottom: -1px; clear: both; float: left; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: -10px; padding-right: 20px; position: relative; width: 600px !important; z-index: 2;"> <div class="rolloverBg" style="background-image: none; clear: both; float: left; padding-bottom: 0px; width: 610px !important;"> <div class="captionText" style="height: 60px; margin-right: 10px; padding: 10px; position: relative;"> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="label" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px;">1 OF 2. </span>Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal talks during a news conference in Doha July 23, 2014.</span></div> <div class="credit" style="margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">CREDIT: REUTERS/STRINGER</span></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> <div class="module" id="relatedTopics" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; width: 140px;"> <div class="moduleHeader" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: medium none; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <h3 style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">RELATED TOPICS</span></span></h3> </div> <div class="moduleBody" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <ul style="clear: both; float: left; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 0px;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/world" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">World »</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> <div id="thirdPartyLinkbackNews"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" id="relatedInteractive" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(Reuters) - Founded by just seven people in Gaza, Hamas now has political and military leaders spread across the Arab world, complicating its ability to send a unified message for negotiating an end to a seven-week war with <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/israel?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Israel</a></span>.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In less than 30 years, what was a grassroots Islamic group has expanded well beyond the confines of Gaza, a narrow coastal enclave hemmed in by <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/israel?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Israel</a></span> and <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/egypt?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Egypt</a></span>.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But the Islamist movement's diffuse structure and complex lines of communication have created confusion over whether it is responsible for staging some attacks on Israeli targets or not.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Illustrating this confusion, Hamas's leader in the West Bank - who lives in exile in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/turkey?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Turkey</a></span> - claimed responsibility last week for the killing of three Jewish seminary students in June, an attack that led indirectly to the current conflict.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">His claim was initially played down by others in Hamas, which had denied any involvement, before Hamas's overall leader, Khaled Meshaal, accepted that it had carried out the killings.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We were not aware of this action taken by this group of Hamas members in advance," Meshaal, who lives in exile in Qatar, told Yahoo News, appearing reluctant to put any blame on the West Bank leadership for failing to notify him earlier.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"But we understand people are frustrated under the occupation and the oppression, and they take all kinds of actions," he said. "Hamas's political leadership was not aware of all these details. We learned about it later on."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Similar gaps in the movement's position have emerged at other times, delaying negotiations on ending a conflict in which more than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians. On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and four civilians have been killed.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Such a problem arose after Egyptian mediators, negotiating indirectly with Israel and the Palestinians in Cairo, struck a five-day ceasefire earlier this month.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hamas negotiators then headed in different directions to consult on the way forward. Some went to Qatar to see Meshaal, others stayed in Cairo where the movement's number two, Moussa Abu Marzouk, is based, and still others were due to return to Gaza.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then, with positive noises emerging about the possibility of an agreement, a spokesman for Hamas's military wing dismissed the talks entirely. "The Palestinian delegation should leave Cairo immediately and not return," declared Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades. "Any move (towards a truce deal) will not be binding on us at all."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Beverley Milton-Edwards, a professor of politics and international studies at Queen's University in Belfast and a specialist on Hamas, has written about the difficulty of pinning the movement down in its positions.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Hamas has a record of engaging in spoiler violence in order to have a negative impact on peace implementation," she said, referring to earlier efforts to achieve peace with Israel.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">GRASSROOTS BEGINNING</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hamas, which stands for "Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya" or the Islamic Resistance Movement, was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and six colleagues in December 1987.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Initially an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, it quickly gained popularity during the first Palestinian "intifada", or uprising, against Israel. Its charter, published in 1988, calls for the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamic society in the whole of historic Palestine.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hamas's spread beyond Gaza, occupied by Israel from 1967 until 2005, was mostly a desire to unite with the Palestinian statehood cause in the occupied West Bank, but also partly due to Israel's efforts to eradicate the movement.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After Yassin was assassinated in Gaza by an Israeli air strike in 2004 and his successor, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, was also killed the same year, the baton passed to Meshaal, a political figure by then living in exile in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Syria</a></span>.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Meshaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in the Jordanian capital Amman in 1997, fell out with <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Syria</a></span> after Hamas criticized President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on Sunni Muslim opponents in the civil war, and moved to Qatar in 2012.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While he is recognized as the clear authority at the top of Hamas and the movement is disciplined, his inability to visit Gaza or the West Bank - he has been in exile for 37 years - means he is at times a distant figure, one with a political rather than a military background.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">With Hamas having fought four conflicts with Israel since 2006, the military wing has gained popularity among young Palestinian men who have flocked to join its ranks. Hamas's military chief, Mohammed Deif, has become almost a legendary figure, his reputation enhanced by seldom appearing in public.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So popular is Deif, whose wife and two children were killed in an Israeli airstrike last week, that some Hamas watchers regard him as more powerful than Ismael Haniyeh, the former prime minister in Gaza and another Hamas leader.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The architect of the latest war, Deif is said to have no political ambitions, but his influence stretches beyond his official role and some analysts believe the military branch is eclipsing the political branch in some respects.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As a result, the declaration by Abu Ubaida, the military wing's spokesman, that the Cairo talks were pointless marked a serious challenge to the negotiations, exasperating <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/egypt?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Egypt</a></span>.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It can be regarded as a toppling of the political leadership of Hamas, not in the meaning of a coup but in terms of decision-making," said Hassan Asfour, a former Palestinian peace negotiator.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Since then, renewed efforts have been made to bring Hamas and the other Palestinian factions, including Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, back to negotiations with the Israelis.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Meshaal, directing affairs from Doha where he draws financial support from the Emir of Qatar, has tried to send the right signals. He met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last week and sought to present a united front.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Whether he can maintain that for all elements of Hamas - the political and military wings as well as leaders in Gaza, the West Bank, Cairo, Istanbul or elsewhere - remains to be seen.</span></div> <span id="articleText" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span id="midArticle_start"></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><span class="focusParagraph"></span><span id="midArticle_1"></span><span id="midArticle_2"></span><span id="midArticle_3"></span><span id="midArticle_4"></span><span id="midArticle_5"></span><span id="midArticle_6"></span><span id="midArticle_7"></span><span id="midArticle_8"></span><span id="midArticle_9"></span><span id="midArticle_10"></span><span id="midArticle_11"></span><span id="midArticle_12"></span><span id="midArticle_13"></span><span id="midArticle_14"></span><span id="midArticle_15"></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><span id="midArticle_1"></span><span id="midArticle_2"></span><span id="midArticle_3"></span><span id="midArticle_4"></span><span id="midArticle_5"></span><span id="midArticle_6"></span><span id="midArticle_7"></span><span id="midArticle_8"></span><span id="midArticle_9"></span><span id="midArticle_10"></span><span id="midArticle_11"></span><span id="midArticle_12"></span><span id="midArticle_13"></span><span id="midArticle_14"></span></span><br /> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="midArticle_15"></span><br /> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> "No one decides alone in Hamas, there is a vote and the majority rules," said Hamza Abu Shanab, a Gaza analyst and an expert on Islamist factions. "The group may have begun small and in a tiny place... but the (ultimate) decision remains that of the executive office."</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> <br /></div> </div>

Diffuse Hamas structure complicates Gaza peace efforts

1 OF 2.  Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal talks during a news conference in Doha July 23, 2014. CREDIT: REUTERS/STRIN...

Read more »

Gaza truce holding but Israel's Netanyahu under fire at home

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"> <br /></h1> <div class="relatedRai" id="relatedInlineVideo"> </div> <div id="slideshowInlineLarge" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; width: 580px;"> <div class="photoControls" id="photoControls" style="bottom: 20px; height: 31px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 580px; z-index: 3;"> <div class="photoNav" style="float: right; height: 31px; margin: 0px; position: relative; right: 15px; width: 62px;"> <div class="photoControls_inner" style="height: 31px; margin: 0px 4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3px;"> <a href="" id="prevButton" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin-top: 2px; outline: none;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img height="31px" src="http://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/btn_articleslide_previous.png" style="border: none; outline: none;" width="25px" /></span></a><a href="" id="nextButton" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin-top: 2px; outline: none;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img height="31px" src="http://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/btn_articleslide_next.png" style="border: none; outline: none;" width="25px" /></span></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-displayer" id="displayFrame" style="float: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 580px;"> <div class="yui-sldshw-active yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 580px; z-index: 2;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic0" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSKBN0GM11320140827#a=1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_top"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Palestinians leave a United Nations-run school sheltering displaced Palestinians, as they make their way home after a ceasefire was declared, in the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip August 27, 2014. REUTERS-Ibraheem Abu Mustafa" id="image0" src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140827&t=2&i=967759666&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=378&r=LYNXMPEA7Q0H1" style="border: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; position: relative;" /></span></a></div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 593px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic1" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 593px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSKBN0GM11320140827#a=2" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_top"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Palestinian fishermen pull their net at the beach of Gaza City August 27, 2014. An open-ended ceasefire in the Gaza war between Israel and the Palestinians held on Wednesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong criticism in his country's newspapers over a campaign in which no clear victor emerged. REUTERS-Mohammed Salem" id="image1" src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140827&t=2&i=967759667&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=378&r=LYNXMPEA7Q0H2" style="border: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; position: relative;" /></span></a></div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic2" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic3" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic4" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic5" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic6" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic7" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic8" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic9" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSKBN0GM11320140827#a=10" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_top"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum (C) is carried by Palestinians as they celebrate what they said was a victory over Israel following a ceasefire in Gaza City August 26, 2014. REUTERS-Mohammed Salem" id="image9" src="http://s2.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140827&t=2&i=967437735&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=378&r=LYNXMPEA7Q02C" style="border: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; position: relative;" /></span></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="rolloverCaption" id="captionContent" style="bottom: -1px; clear: both; float: left; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: -10px; padding-right: 20px; position: relative; width: 600px !important; z-index: 2;"> <div class="rolloverBg" style="background-image: none; clear: both; float: left; padding-bottom: 0px; width: 610px !important;"> <div class="captionText" style="height: 60px; margin-right: 10px; padding: 10px; position: relative;"> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="label" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px;">1 OF 10. </span>Palestinians leave a United Nations-run school sheltering displaced Palestinians, as they make their way home after a ceasefire was declared, in the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip August 27, 2014.</span></div> <div class="credit" style="margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">CREDIT: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA</span></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> <div class="module" id="relatedVideo" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; width: 140px;"> <div class="moduleHeader" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: medium none; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <h3 style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">RELATED VIDEO</span></span></h3> </div> <div class="moduleBody" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <div class="feature" style="background-image: none; float: left; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <div class="photo" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat repeat; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 4px 0px; position: relative;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/video/idUSKBN0GM11320140827?videoId=341273226" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin-top: 3px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Video" border="0" height="80" src="http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?d=20140827&i=93066247&w=140&r=93066247-1&t=2" style="border: medium none; outline: none;" width="140" /><img alt="" border="0" class="overlay" height="80" src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/video_overlay_140.gif" style="border: none !important; left: 0px; outline: none; position: absolute;" width="140" /></span></a></div> <h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 20px;" tns="no"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/video/idUSKBN0GM11320140827?videoId=341273226" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 3px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Israeli army withdraws armored vehicles from Gaza border area</span></a></h2> <div class="photo" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat repeat; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 4px 0px; position: relative;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/video/idUSKBN0GM11320140827?videoId=340815330" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin-top: 3px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Video" border="0" height="80" src="http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?d=20140826&i=93023027&w=140&r=93023027-1&t=2" style="border: medium none; outline: none;" width="140" /><img alt="" border="0" class="overlay" height="80" src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/video_overlay_140.gif" style="border: none !important; left: 0px; outline: none; position: absolute;" width="140" /></span></a></div> <h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 20px;" tns="no"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/video/idUSKBN0GM11320140827?videoId=340815330" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 3px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Israel, Hamas reach ceasefire agreement</span></a></h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> <div class="module" id="relatedNews" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; width: 140px;"> <div class="moduleHeader" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: medium none; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <h3 style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">RELATED NEWS</span></span></h3> </div> <div class="moduleBody" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <ul style="clear: both; float: left; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 7px 0px;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/us-mideast-gaza-ceasefire-details-idUSKBN0GR0P620140827" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">What's in the Gaza peace deal?</span></a></li> <li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 7px 0px;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/us-foundation-mideast-gaza-aid-idUSKBN0GR1WP20140827" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">WFP steps up Gaza food aid after Egypt opens Rafah crossing</span></a></li> <li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 7px 0px;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/us-mideast-gaza-return-idUSKBN0GR1GR20140827" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Relief and bitterness mix as Gazans return to destroyed homes</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> <div class="module" id="relatedTopics" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; width: 140px;"> <div class="moduleHeader" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: medium none; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <h3 style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">RELATED TOPICS</span></span></h3> </div> <div class="moduleBody" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <ul style="clear: both; float: left; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 0px;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/world" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">World »</span></a></li> <li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 0px;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/places/israel" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Israel »</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> <div id="thirdPartyLinkbackNews"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" id="relatedInteractive" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(Reuters) - An open-ended ceasefire in the Gaza war held on Wednesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong criticism in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/israel?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Israel</a></span> over a costly conflict with Palestinian militants in which no clear victor emerged.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On the streets of the battered, Hamas-run Palestinian enclave, people headed to shops and banks, trying to resume the normal pace of life after seven weeks of fighting. Thousands of others, who had fled the battles and sheltered with relatives or in schools, returned home, where some found only rubble.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/israel?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Israel</a></span>, sirens warning of incoming rocket fire from the Gaza Strip fell silent. But media commentators, echoing attacks by members of Netanyahu's governing coalition, voiced deep disappointment over his leadership during the most prolonged bout of Israeli-Palestinian violence in a decade.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"After 50 days of warfare in which a terror organization killed dozens of soldiers and civilians, destroyed the daily routine (and) placed the country in a state of economic distress ... we could have expected much more than an announcement of a ceasefire," analyst Shimon Shiffer wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest-selling newspaper.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We could have expected the prime minister to go to the president’s residence and inform him of his decision to resign his post."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Netanyahu, who has faced constant sniping in his cabinet from right-wing ministers demanding military action to topple Hamas, scheduled a news conference for Wednesday evening, expected to be his first public remarks since the Egyptian-mediated truce deal took effect on Tuesday evening.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Palestinian health officials say 2,139 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, have been killed in the enclave since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending rocket salvoes.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel's death toll stood at 64 soldiers and six civilians.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The ceasefire agreement called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/egypt?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Egypt</a></span>, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A senior Hamas official voiced willingness for the security forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the unity government he formed in June to control the passage points.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Both Israel and <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/egypt?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Egypt</a></span> view Hamas as a security threat and are seeking guarantees that weapons will not enter Gaza, a narrow, densely populated territory of 1.8 million people.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Under a second stage of the truce that would begin a month later, Israel and the Palestinians would discuss the <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/sectors/industries/overview?industryCode=46&lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">construction</a></span> of a Gaza sea port and Israel's release of Hamas prisoners in the occupied West Bank, possibly in a trade for the remains of two Israeli soldiers believed held by Hamas, the officials said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel has in recent weeks said it wants the full demilitarization of Gaza. The United States and European Union have supported the goal, but it remains unclear what it would mean in practice and Hamas has rejected it as unfeasible.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">COMPETING VICTORY CLAIMS</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"On the land of proud Gaza, the united people achieved absolute victory against the Zionist enemy," a Hamas statement said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel said it dealt a strong blow to Hamas, killing several of its military leaders and destroying the Islamist group's cross-border infiltration tunnels.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Hamas's military wing was badly hit, we know this clearly through unequivocal intelligence," Yossi Cohen, Netanyahu's national security adviser, said on Army Radio.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But Israel also faced persistent rocket fire for nearly two months that caused an exodus from a number of border communities and disrupted daily life in its commercial heartland.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"They are celebrating in Gaza," cabinet minister Uzi Landau, of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu party in Netanyahu's coalition, told Israel Radio. He said that for Israel, the outcome of the war was "very gloomy" because it had not created sufficient deterrence to dissuade Hamas from attacking in the future.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nahum Barnea, one of Israel's most popular columnists, expressed concern "that instead of paving the way to removing the threat from Gaza, we are paving the road to the next round, in Lebanon or in Gaza".</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"The Israelis expected a leader, a statesman who knows what he wants to achieve, someone who makes decisions and engages in a sincere and real dialogue with his public," he wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth. "They received a seasoned spokesperson, and very little beyond that."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ben Caspit, writing in the Maariv daily, said there was no victory for Israel in a conflict that resulted in "a collapsed tourism industry (and) an economy approaching recession".</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel's central bank has estimated the conflict will knock half a point off economic growth this year.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But with future diplomatic moves on Gaza's future still pending, there was no immediate talk publicly among Netanyahu's coalition partners of any steps to break up the alliance.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In a further sign of the truce's impact, Egypt eased restrictions at the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, allowing World Food Program supplies containing a shipment of 25,000 food parcels into the coastal territory for the first time since 2007, a statement by the humanitarian group said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel has regularly permitted food and other humanitarian goods to be shipped into Gaza across its border, during the latest fighting as well. A government website says 5,359 truckloads of goods have transited the Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza since July 8, the day the seven-week conflict erupted.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel has said it would facilitate the flow of more civilian goods and humanitarian and reconstruction aid into the impoverished territory if the truce was honored.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But, Cohen said: "(Hamas) will...not get a port unless it declares it will disarm. It will not get even one screw unless we can be sure it is not being used to strengthen Gaza's military might."</span></div> <span id="articleText" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span id="midArticle_start"></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><span class="focusParagraph"></span><span id="midArticle_1"></span><span id="midArticle_2"></span><span id="midArticle_3"></span><span id="midArticle_4"></span><span id="midArticle_5"></span><span id="midArticle_6"></span><span id="midArticle_7"></span><span id="midArticle_8"></span><span id="midArticle_9"></span><span id="midArticle_10"></span><span id="midArticle_11"></span><span id="midArticle_12"></span><span id="midArticle_13"></span><span id="midArticle_14"></span><span id="midArticle_15"></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><span id="midArticle_1"></span><span id="midArticle_2"></span><span id="midArticle_3"></span><span id="midArticle_4"></span><span id="midArticle_5"></span><span id="midArticle_6"></span><span id="midArticle_7"></span><span id="midArticle_8"></span><span id="midArticle_9"></span><span id="midArticle_10"></span><span id="midArticle_11"></span><span id="midArticle_12"></span><span id="midArticle_13"></span><span id="midArticle_14"></span></span><br /> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="midArticle_15"></span><div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="midArticle_16"></span><br /> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said 540,000 people had been displaced in the Gaza Strip. Israel has said Hamas bears responsibility for civilian casualties because it operates among non-combatants and uses schools and mosques to store weapons and as launch sites for rockets.</div> </div>

Gaza truce holding but Israel's Netanyahu under fire at home

1 OF 10.  Palestinians leave a United Nations-run school sheltering displaced Pale...

Read more »

Hamas Shoots Dead 18 Palestinians Accused Of Spying For Israel

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <header style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="title" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></h1> <div class="main-visual group embedded-image" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; direction: ltr; float: left; margin: 0px 20px 10px auto; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 570px;"> <iframe frameborder="0" height="411" src="http://embed.live.huffingtonpost.com/HPLEmbedPlayer/?segmentId=53f7873dfe34446543000596&sid=577&showPlaylist=true&autoPlay=false" style="border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;" width="570"></iframe></div> <div class="bN" data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"floating_share"}}" id="float_tracker" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; height: 61px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; min-width: 25px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 570px;"> <menu class="social_badges_en social-bar group floating" id="social_badges" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; min-width: 570px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><section class="social-badge" data-entry-id="5699163" data-url="/ajax/social/phoenix_social_badge_json.php?badges=facebook_like%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cgoogleshare%2Cemail%2Ccomments&id=5699163&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk%2F2014%2F08%2F22%2Fhamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><ul class="shares group" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <li class="share facebook_like VERB_LIKE" data-type="fblike" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; height: 61px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="javscript:void(0)" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="fb-like fb_iframe_widget fb_iframe_widget_fluid" data-action="like" data-colorscheme="light" data-font="arial" data-href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/22/hamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html" data-layout="box_count" data-send="false" data-show-faces="false" data-width="450" fb-iframe-plugin-query="action=like&app_id=238320442863988&color_scheme=light&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk%2F2014%2F08%2F22%2Fhamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html&layout=box_count&locale=en_GB&sdk=joey&send=false&show_faces=false&width=450" fb-xfbml-state="rendered" ref="" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; height: auto; margin: -1px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto !important;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 61px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: justify; vertical-align: bottom; width: 48px;"><span style="color: black;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="" frameborder="0" height="1000px" name="f332f435c4" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=like&app_id=238320442863988&channel=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2FZIZ-G4f9LgK.js%3Fversion%3D41%23cb%3Df1c19bb30%26domain%3Dwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk%252Ff3c25ef40c%26relation%3Dparent.parent&color_scheme=light&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk%2F2014%2F08%2F22%2Fhamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html&layout=box_count&locale=en_GB&sdk=joey&send=false&show_faces=false&width=450" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: 61px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible; width: 48px; z-index: 4999;" title="fb:like Facebook Social Plugin"></iframe></span></span></div> </a></li> <li class="share facebook" data-type="facebook" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; height: 61px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="social-fb-share-btn" data-caption="www.huffingtonpost.co.uk" data-image="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1979903/thumbs/o-HAMAS-PALESTINIANS-facebook.jpg" data-title="Pictures Capture Brutal Act Of Deterrence As Hamas Shoots Dead 18 'Informers'" data-url="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/22/hamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk%2F2014%2F08%2F22%2Fhamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html" sl-processed="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="facebook-share-btn label" style="border: 0px; bottom: 6px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; left: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Share</span><span class="facebook-share-count count" data-count="0" style="background-image: url(http://s.huffpost.com/images/badges/badges_trans_v5_blank.png); background-position: 0px -146px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: bold; height: 61px; margin: 0px; padding: 9px 0px 0px 1px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; width: 57px;">0</span></span></a></li> <li class="share twitter" data-type="twitter" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; height: 61px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="social-twitter-btn" data-account="HuffPostUK" data-size="100" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a class="twitter-tweet-btn" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?lang=en&text=Pictures+Capture+Brutal+Act+Of+Deterrence+As+Hamas+Shoots+Dead+18+%27Informers%27+http%3A%2F%2Fhuff.to%2F1BK5ou1" sl-processed="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="twitter-tweet-btn label" style="border: 0px; bottom: 6px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; left: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Tweet</span><span class="twitter-tweet-count count" data-count="27" style="background-image: url(http://s.huffpost.com/images/badges/badges_trans_v5_blank.png); background-position: -57px -146px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: bold; height: 61px; margin: 0px; padding: 9px 0px 0px 1px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; width: 57px;">27</span></span></a></div> </li> <li class="share googleshare" data-type="googleshare" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; height: 61px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="___plus_0" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; display: inline-block; float: none; height: 60px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto !important;"> <iframe data-gapiattached="true" frameborder="0" hspace="0" id="I0_1408751851197" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="I0_1408751851197" scrolling="no" src="https://apis.google.com/u/0/se/0/_/+1/sharebutton?plusShare=true&usegapi=1&action=share&annotation=vertical-bubble&origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk%2F2014%2F08%2F22%2Fhamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html&gsrc=3p&ic=1&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fscs%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fk%3Doz.gapi.en.5ig64OZpXX0.O%2Fm%3D__features__%2Fam%3DAQ%2Frt%3Dj%2Fd%3D1%2Ft%3Dzcms%2Frs%3DAItRSTPSXYGeKpXeoB-pHHoWauQMaaYhjg#_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart%2Concircled%2Cdrefresh%2Cerefresh%2Conload&id=I0_1408751851197&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk&pfname=&rpctoken=41347868" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 60px; left: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible; width: 58px;" tabindex="0" title="+Share" vspace="0" width="100%"></iframe></div> </li> <li class="share email" data-type="email" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; height: 61px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="social-email-btn" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a class="hp-email-btn label" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/22/hamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html?utm_hp_ref=uk#" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; bottom: 6px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; left: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Email</span></span></a><span class="hp-email-count count" data-count="2" style="background-image: url(http://s.huffpost.com/images/badges/badges_trans_v5_blank.png); background-position: -114px -146px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: bold; height: 61px; margin: 0px; padding: 9px 0px 0px 1px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; width: 57px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">2</span></span></div> </li> <li class="share comment last" data-type="comments" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; direction: ltr; float: left; height: 61px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="social-comment-btn" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span class="hp-comment-btn label" style="border: 0px; bottom: 6px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; left: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Comment</span></span><span class="hp-comment-count count" data-count="91" style="background-image: url(http://s.huffpost.com/images/badges/badges_trans_v5_blank.png); background-position: -171px -146px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: bold; height: 61px; margin: 0px; padding: 9px 0px 0px 1px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; width: 61px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">91</span></span></div> </li> </ul> </section><section class="chicklets" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin: 5px -5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><ul class="group" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <li class="googleplus" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: right; list-style: none; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk%2F2014%2F08%2F22%2Fhamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html&hl=en-US" sl-processed="1" style="background-image: url(http://s.huffpost.com/images/b_pixie.png?v6); background-position: 0px -10000px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9999px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 20px;" target="chicklet" title="Share on Google+"><img alt="Share on Google+" src="http://www.gstatic.com/images/icons/gplus-16.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; left: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></a></li> <li class="stumble-upon" data-type="stumble-upon" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: right; list-style: none; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk%2F2014%2F08%2F22%2Fhamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html&title=Hamas%20Shoots%20Dead%2018%20Palestinians%20Accused%20Of%20Spying%20For%20Israel" sl-processed="1" style="background-image: url(http://s.huffpost.com/images/b_pixie.png?v6); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 16px;" target="chicklet" title="Share on Stumbleupon"></a></li> <li class="reddit last" data-type="reddit" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: right; list-style: none; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk%2F2014%2F08%2F22%2Fhamas-shoots-18-palestinians-accused-of-spying-for-israel_n_5699163.html&title=Hamas%20Shoots%20Dead%2018%20Palestinians%20Accused%20Of%20Spying%20For%20Israel" sl-processed="1" style="background-image: url(http://s.huffpost.com/images/b_pixie.png?v6); background-position: 0px -48px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 18px; margin: -3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 18px;" target="chicklet" title="Share on Reddit"></a></li> </ul> </section></menu></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> </header><div class="content" id="mainentrycontent" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="float_left" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="ad_share_box padding_bottom_5 margin_right_20" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="float_right padding_left_10" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: right; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; widows: auto;"> </div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hamas gunmen killed 18 Palestinians accused of spying for Israel, some of whom were lined up along the wall of a mosque after Friday prayers and shot in the head.</span><br /> <div class="content" id="mainentrycontent" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Hamas-linked Al Majd website said the killings, which are the largest number of suspected informers ever killed by the militant group in a single day, were "choking the necks of the collaborators." It warned that suspects would not be dealt with through the justice system but "in the field".</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said two of those killed Friday were women and called for an immediate halt to what it said were "extra-judicial executions."</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="hamas execute palestinians" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1979897/thumbs/o-HAMAS-EXECUTE-PALESTINIANS-570.jpg?5" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></span></div> <center style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Crowds gather to watch the killing of seven Palestinians</strong></div> </center> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Those women were two of 11 alleged informants shot dead at the Gaza City police headquarters. Seven more, their faces covered with bags, were killed by masked gunmen after midday prayers in front of worshipers at the al-Omari mosque. Each had a piece of paper pinned to his forehead, with his initial and the crime he was accused of committing.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The condemned men "had sold their souls to the enemy for a cheap price" one of the gunmen said, <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_ISRAEL_PALESTINIANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-08-22-08-05-35" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">according to a source who spoke to the Associated Press.</a></span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The crackdown is said to have been sparked by the killing of three senior military leaders of Hamas in Israeli airstrikes, men Israel says are responsible for building its tunnel network to smuggle weapons. Earlier in the week, another strike killed the wife and two children of Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of the Hamas military wing. Deif's fate remains unclear.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hamas said it would not release the names of those killed because it wanted to protect the reputation of their families.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/20/hamas-executes-informants-israel-gaza" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">In 2012, the killing of alleged "spies" by Hamas came to prominence </a>when a mob set upon the bloodied corpses of six executed Palestinians. The bodies were stamped on and spat at, with one corpse tied to a motorcycle and dragged through the streets.</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="hamas palestinians" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1979903/thumbs/o-HAMAS-PALESTINIANS-570.jpg?5" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></span></div> <center style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Masked gunmen forced the victims against the wall of a mosque</strong></div> </center> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There is broad consensus among Palestinians that informers for Israel deserve harsh punishment, and it is rare to hear someone speak out against killings of alleged collaborators. Such public killings been carried out in the West Bank and Gaza since the first uprising against Israeli occupation in the late 1980s.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">During Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9, 17 suspected collaborators were shot dead by Hamas.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Meanwhile, Israel-Gaza fighting continued for a third day since the collapse of Egyptian-led cease-fire talks earlier this week. By early afternoon, Gaza militants had fired at least 56 rockets and mortar shells at Israel, while Israel carried out at least 28 airstrikes in Gaza, the military said.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One of the strikes hit a livestock farm where two workers were killed and three people were wounded, said Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra. The Israeli military said its strikes targeted concealed rocket launchers and weapons sites.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Israel, one civilian was moderately wounded by a rocket in the southern city of Beersheba and another was lightly hurt by a rocket that landed in the border town of Sderot.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Since Israel-Hamas fighting erupted on July 8, at least 2,091 Palestinians have been killed in the coastal territory, according to Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="hamas" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1979905/thumbs/o-HAMAS-570.jpg?6" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></span></div> <center style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bags were put over the heads of the seven, killed in front of Friday worshippers</strong></div> </center> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nearly a quarter of the dead - 469 - are children, according to a UNICEF field officer in Gaza, Pernilla Ironside. Of the more than 10,500 Palestinians wounded, nearly one-third are children, according to UNICEF figures, while some 100,000 Gazans have been left homeless. On the Israeli side, 67 people have been killed in the past six weeks, including 64 soldiers, two civilians and a Thai worker.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The renewed fighting dashed hopes for a lasting truce. Earlier this week, Hamas rejected an Egyptian truce proposal under which Israel would gradually ease its blockade of Gaza, without giving specific commitments. Hamas demands a lifting of the border closure imposed by Israel and Egypt after the militant group's takeover of the coastal strip in 2007.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A quick resumption of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Cairo also seems unlikely, particularly after the killing of the three Hamas commanders. Senior Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said late Thursday that his group would not budge from its demands.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We will not accept anything less than an end to the aggression and an end to the blockade," Haniyeh said in a statement posted online by Hamas-run news service Al Rai. "Anyone involved in cease-fire efforts must understand that our people will not accept anything less than this."</span></div> </div> <footer style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><section class="also-on" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h3 style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ALSO ON THE HUFFINGTON POST</span></span></h3> <div class="promo_holder" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="hp-slideshow-wrapper no-pin" data-beacon="{" data-slideshow-id="363633" id="hp-slideshow-wrapper-363633" p="" slideshow_id="" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 570px; z-index: 5000001;"> <div class="hp-slideshow-top" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; min-width: 555px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: 5000002;"> <div class="hp-slideshow-main" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 554px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 570px; z-index: 5000002;"> <div class="hp-slideshow-header" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: default; direction: ltr; display: inline; height: 40px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="hp-slideshow-title-icon hp-slideshow-icon" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; speak: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 22px;"> </div> <div class="hp-slideshow-title" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: default; direction: ltr; display: inline-block; font-style: italic; height: 40px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 15px 10px 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 380px;"> Hamas militants execute Palestinians</div> <div class="hp-slideshow-slide-position" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; display: inline-block; float: right; margin: 0px; padding: 13px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span class="current-slide" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span> <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">of</span> <span class="total-slides" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">8</span> <div class="hp-slideshow-previous-arrow" data-beacon="{"p":{"event_action":"arrow_top_corner_left"}}" style="background-image: linear-gradient(rgb(252, 252, 252) 0px, rgb(196, 196, 196) 100%); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; direction: ltr; display: inline-block; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 4px 5px 4px 8px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span class="hp-slideshow-icon bN" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; speak: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>  <div class="hp-slideshow-next-arrow" data-beacon="{"p":{"event_action":"arrow_top_corner_right"}}" style="background-image: linear-gradient(rgb(252, 252, 252) 0px, rgb(196, 196, 196) 100%); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; direction: ltr; display: inline-block; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 4px 5px 4px 8px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span class="hp-slideshow-icon bN" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; speak: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div> </div> </div> <div class="hp-main-slide" style="border: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; height: 430px; margin: 5px 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 10px; position: relative; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 550px;"> <div class="hp-main-slider-content" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; display: table; height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; width: 550px;"> <div class="hp-slideshow-img-container" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; height: 430px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/363633/slide_363633_4105859_compressed.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(60, 60, 60); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-height: 400px; max-width: 96%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto !important;" /></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section></footer></div>

Hamas Shoots Dead 18 Palestinians Accused Of Spying For Israel

Share 0 Tweet 27 Email 2 Comment 91 Hamas gunmen killed 18 Palestinians accused of spying for Israe...

Read more »