Welcome to Ebere Samuel's Blog: cease-fire

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<span class="pb-caption" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Editor’s Note: This video contains graphic content. Death toll passes 1,000 as the 12-hour truce allows Gazans to come home only to find more dead. Meanwhile, world leaders gather in Paris to push for an extension of the cease-fire. (Reuters)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="pb-byline" style="display: inline-block; padding-right: 5px;">By <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/sudarsan-raghavan/" style="text-decoration: none;">Sudarsan Raghavan</a>, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/anne-gearan" style="text-decoration: none;">Anne Gearan</a> and Ruth Eglash</span> <span class="pb-timestamp" style="display: inline-block; padding-right: 5px;">July 27 at 1:49 AM</span> <span class="pb-tool email" style="display: inline-block; padding-right: 5px;"><a href="mailto:raghavans@washpost.com;anne.gearan@washpost.com;Ruth.Eglash@washpost.com?subject=Reader%20feedback%20for%20'Gaza%20campaign%20on%20pace%20to%20become%20deadliest%20Israeli%20conflict%20in%20recent%20years'" style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="fa fa-envelope" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: inline-block;"></span></a></span> <span class="tweet-authors"><span class="pb-twitter-follow" style="display: inline-block; position: relative; top: 5px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-follow-button twitter-follow-button" data-twttr-rendered="true" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/follow_button.1404859412.html#_=1406442550890&id=twitter-widget-0&lang=en&screen_name=africawriter&show_count=false&show_screen_name=true&size=m" style="height: 20px; width: 131px;" title="Twitter Follow Button"></iframe></span> <span class="pb-twitter-follow" style="display: inline-block; position: relative; top: 5px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-follow-button twitter-follow-button" data-twttr-rendered="true" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/follow_button.1404859412.html#_=1406442550900&id=twitter-widget-1&lang=en&screen_name=agearan&show_count=false&show_screen_name=true&size=m" style="height: 20px; width: 114px;" title="Twitter Follow Button"></iframe></span> <span class="pb-twitter-follow" style="display: inline-block; position: relative; top: 5px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-follow-button twitter-follow-button" data-twttr-rendered="true" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-2" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/follow_button.1404859412.html#_=1406442550905&id=twitter-widget-2&lang=en&screen_name=reglash&show_count=false&show_screen_name=true&size=m" style="height: 20px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter Follow Button"></iframe></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="dateline">JERUSALEM —</span> Palestinian and Israeli casualties are mounting at a pace that could surpass any other Israeli conflict in nearly a decade, amid signs of a deepening military and political stalemate driven by diplomatic gridlock, Palestinian militant resilience and the absence of a clear Israeli exit strategy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The rising death toll in the Gaza Strip conflict propelled U.S. and European diplomats huddled in Paris to call for an extension of a 12-hour humanitarian truce Saturday that had afforded both sides a brief respite from the nearly three-week-old conflict.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Late Saturday, Israel approved a 24-hour extension of the truce but said it would retaliate if Hamas prevented its forces from continuing to destroy tunnel networks through which the militants have attempted to infiltrate Israel. Hamas fighters, though, resumed firing rockets and mortar rounds into Israel.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">An Israeli soldier was killed early Sunday morning, despite the additional 24-hour cease-fire. The death brings to 43 the number of soldiers killed since Israel started its ground operation in Gaza. While Israel seemed to observe its ceasefire commitment, Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel, including six rockets fired Sunday morning towards Israel’s second largest city, Tel Aviv.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, rejected the truce extension, saying that any humanitarian cease-fire must include Israeli soldiers withdrawing from Gaza and allow displaced Gazans to return to their homes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo wp-volt-gal-item-loaded" data-buy="false" data-caption="An explosion during an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip is pictured from the Israeli border with Gaza before the cease-fire took effect. The death toll in Gaza soared to more than 1,000 as bodies were pulled from the rubble during the 12-hour truce that top diplomats urged Israel and Hamas to extend." data-credit="Ronen Zvulun/Reuters" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/2014-07-26T093723Z_01_JER104_RTRIDSP_3_MIDEAST-GAZA.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="2237" data-ratio="1.532" data-title="July 26, 2014" data-uuid="355edd18-14ef-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/2014-07-26T093723Z_01_JER104_RTRIDSP_3_MIDEAST-GAZA.jpg?env=A); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: contain; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo wp-volt-gal-item-loaded" data-buy="false" data-caption="" data-credit="" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/06/05/Foreign/Images/Warning1004-Copy.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="1600" data-ratio="1.333" data-title=" " data-uuid="7e003cde-ecb2-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/06/05/Foreign/Images/Warning1004-Copy.jpg?env=A); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: contain; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo wp-volt-gal-item-loaded" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian woman hauls a TV that she salvaged from her destroyed home in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. " data-credit="Oliver Weiken/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/04331547-14210.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4096" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 26, 2014" data-uuid="87836168-14ea-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/04331547-14210.jpg?env=A); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: contain; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo wp-volt-gal-item-loaded" data-buy="false" data-caption="The rubble of destroyed buildings and homes in the Shijaiyah residential district of Gaza City. " data-credit="Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/Nic6354694.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5610" data-ratio="1.482" data-title="July 26, 2014" data-uuid="4364810a-14eb-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/Nic6354694.jpg?env=A); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: contain; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo wp-volt-gal-item-loaded" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinian rescue officers remove a body from the rubble of a building where at least 20 members of an extended family were killed, including at least 10 children, by an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip." data-credit="Eyad Baba/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-0d0bc.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3504" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 26, 2014" data-uuid="5584e87a-14eb-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-0d0bc.jpg?env=A); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: contain; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinian men leave after they salvaged goods from destroyed houses during a short period of cease-fire in Shijaiyah." data-credit="Oliver Weiken/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/04331910.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4096" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 26, 2014" data-uuid="d2f09706-14ea-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinians work at a barber shop that was damaged amid Israeli tank fire and airstrikes." data-credit="Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/Nic6354699.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4680" data-ratio="1.479" data-title="July 26, 2014" data-uuid="08671eaa-14eb-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinians run after they hear an Israeli tank move from its position behind a hill, close to the border with Israel." data-credit="Lefteris Pitarakis/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-07b6b.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4560" data-ratio="1.439" data-title="July 26, 2014" data-uuid="a964fca0-14eb-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian man walks by buildings heavily damaged by Israeli airstrikes in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip." data-credit="Lefteris Pitarakis/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-00660.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5184" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 26, 2014" data-uuid="6bab4b32-14e9-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A man cries upon his return to his family’s house, which was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Beit Hanoun. " data-credit="Lefteris Pitarakis/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-09b4b.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5088" data-ratio="1.472" data-title="July 26, 2014" data-uuid="802c5178-14e9-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinians walk past an unexploded Israeli tank shell outside Beit Hanoun." data-credit="Oliver Weiken/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/26/Foreign/Images/04331546.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4096" data-ratio="1.499" data-title="July 26, 2014" data-uuid="9a1f63da-14ea-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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JULY 25, 2014</div>
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="An Israeli artillery shell is fired from southern Israel into the Gaza Strip. On Friday, Israeli cabinet ministers rejected U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry’s proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza, according to Israeli news media accounts." data-credit="Jim Hollander/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/04330786.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4096" data-ratio="1.55" data-title="July 25, 2014  " data-uuid="94b7138c-143d-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Smoke billows from a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. " data-credit="Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/Nic6354385.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5760" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 25, 2014 " data-uuid="7b99970c-143e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="An Israeli Apache helicopter sets off an anti-missile flare as it approaches Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. " data-credit="Jim Hollander/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/04330801.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="1819" data-ratio="1.407" data-title="July 25, 2014 " data-uuid="9089711e-143e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A rocket is fired from the northern Gaza Strip toward Israel. " data-credit="Ronen Zvulun/Reuters" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/2014-07-25T192717Z_01_JER108_RTRIDSP_3_MIDEAST-GAZA-ISRAEL-CEASEFIRE.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3500" data-ratio="1.565" data-title="July 25, 2014 " data-uuid="0633ef68-143d-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="From his hotel suite in Cairo, Secretary of State John F. Kerry talks to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about terms of a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. " data-credit="AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/deast_Egypt_Israel_Palestinians_Kerry_US-08450-14213.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5160" data-ratio="1.561" data-title=" July 25, 2014" data-uuid="38067ab4-143e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinians throw stones at members of the Israeli army during the funeral of three Palestinians, who medics said were killed during clashes with Israeli troops, in Beit Ommar, a town north of the West Bank city of Hebron. " data-credit="Mussa Issa Qawasma/Reuters" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/2014-07-25T183957Z_01_GAZ45_RTRIDSP_3_MIDEAST-GAZA-WESTBANK.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3500" data-ratio="1.492" data-title="July 25, 2014 " data-uuid="46d9db76-143e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinians in Beit Ommar set fire to an Israeli army outpost during the funeral of three Palestinians, who medics said were killed during clashes with Israeli troops." data-credit="Mussa Issa Qawasma/Reuters" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/2014-07-25T184848Z_01_GAZ46_RTRIDSP_3_MIDEAST-GAZA-WESTBANK.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3500" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 25, 2014  " data-uuid="27c6130c-143f-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinians set fire to a barricade near an Israeli security guard tower during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron. As the Israeli offensive continues in Gaza, conflict and rioting is beginning to spread to the West Bank. " data-credit="Abed Al Hashlamoun/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/04330979.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4096" data-ratio="1.586" data-title=" July 25, 2014" data-uuid="d67d879c-143d-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinian supporters of Hamas take shelter while clashing with Israeli security forces near Ramallah in the West Bank. " data-credit="Andrew Burton/Getty Images" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/452668202.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3500" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 25, 2014  " data-uuid="bb8ad3e8-143f-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="People walk inside a U.N. school where hundreds of families have sought refuge after fleeing their homes following Israeli forces’ strikes in the northern Gaza Strip. " data-credit="Adel Hana/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-0afd9.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4113" data-ratio="1.406" data-title=" July 25, 2014" data-uuid="dca292dc-143f-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Israeli soldiers walk on a dirt road next to an army deployment near the border between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. " data-credit="Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Images/Nic6354424.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5022" data-ratio="1.53" data-title=" July 25, 2014" data-uuid="8afb9348-143f-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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JULY 24, 2014 </div>
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A crater is seen in the yard of the U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. Shells hit the elementary school, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 100 who were seeking shelter from clashes on the streets outside. Initial reports indicated that the shells came from Israeli tanks. " data-credit="Adel Hana/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-0cc36.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5760" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 24, 2014 " data-uuid="f2162d42-134d-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A sandal and a pool of blood remain at the site of the strike that hit the U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip." data-credit="Adel Hana/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-09829.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5760" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="ca7b7d1e-134d-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A pool of blood is seen in the U.N.-operated school after the attack. Palestinian officials said he school was filled with women and children who had fled their homes to escape more than two weeks of fighting between Israel and Hamas, the militant Palestinian Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip." data-credit="Mohammed Saber/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/04328829.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3700" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="9954cc1c-134e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian family, who fled the U.N. school that was hit by shelling, arrives at the Beit Hanoun hospital." data-credit="Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/Nic6353565.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3600" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="f546eed0-134c-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian man cries over the body of his son, who died when the U.N. school for refugees was hit." data-credit="Oliver Weiken/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/04328880.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4096" data-ratio="1.499" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="4df10722-134e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian man holds a girl who medics said was injured in the shelling at a U.N.-run school sheltering Palestinian refugees." data-credit="Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/2014-07-24T152215Z_01_FOR13_RTRIDSP_3_MIDEAST-GAZA.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3500" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="e8367930-134d-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinian doctors check a boy who got injured at the U.N. school, in the overcrowded emergency room of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip." data-credit="Oliver Weiken/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Production/Daily/A-Section/Images/04329041.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4096" data-ratio="1.499" data-title="July 24, 2014 " data-uuid="1fd8967a-134e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian man carries the body of a 1-year-old baby, who died of wounds sustained after the U.N. school in Beit Hanun was shelled, in the morgue of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia." data-credit="Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/TS-Nic6353548.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3600" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="a8006c90-135c-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinian responders rush two injured babies to the emergency room of the Kamal Adwain hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip." data-credit="Oliver Weiken/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/04328964.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4096" data-ratio="1.499" data-title="July 24, 2014   " data-uuid="2ab262e8-1352-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinian children wounded in the strike on the U.N. school in Beit Hanoun lie on the floor of an emergency room at the Kamal Adwain hospital in Beit Lahiya." data-credit="Lefteris Pitarakis/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-0f75e-14017.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5184" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 24, 2014   " data-uuid="300ab3f8-1352-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Relatives of Palestinians who medics said were killed in the shelling at a U.N-run school sheltering Palestinian refugees mourn outside a hospital morgue in the northern Gaza Strip." data-credit="Mohamed Salem/Reuters" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/2014-07-24T144915Z_01_GAZ56_RTRIDSP_3_MIDEAST-GAZA-SCHOOL.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3500" data-ratio="1.545" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="32cd1fbc-134e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian mother mourns over the body of her son, Abd al-Karim al-Shibari, who was killed after the U.N. school was hit." data-credit="Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/Nic6353566.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5475" data-ratio="1.504" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="f2138278-134c-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinian children wounded in the attack on the school lie on the floor of the emergency room at the Kamal Adwain hospital in Beit Lahiya." data-credit="Lefteris Pitarakis/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-0cc63.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5760" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="0d8bb0e2-134e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian child wounded in the shelling cries at the emergency room of the Kamal Adwain hospital in Beit Lahiya." data-credit="Lefteris Pitarakis/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-0da71.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4965" data-ratio="1.467" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="1471f5d8-134e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian helps his injured son at the Kamal Adwain hospital." data-credit="Oliver Weiken/European Pressphoto Agency" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/04328928.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="4096" data-ratio="1.499" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="08412a0e-134e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian girl is treated at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip." data-credit="Mohammed Salem/Reuters" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/2014-07-24T162823Z_01_GAZ52_RTRIDSP_3_MIDEAST-GAZA-SCHOOL.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3500" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 24, 2014 " data-uuid="b66b6178-1351-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo wp-volt-gal-item-loaded" data-buy="false" data-caption="A Palestinian mother comforts her child at a hospital in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip." data-credit="Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/2014-07-24T155323Z_01_FOR15_RTRIDSP_3_MIDEAST-GAZA.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="3500" data-ratio="1.5" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="58f2668a-134d-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/2014-07-24T155323Z_01_FOR15_RTRIDSP_3_MIDEAST-GAZA.jpg?env=A); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: contain; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<div class="wp-volt-gal-slide wp-volt-gal-photo" data-buy="false" data-caption="Palestinian children wounded in the attack on the U.N. school in Beit Hanoun lie on the floor of the emergency room of the Kamal Adwain hospital." data-credit="Lefteris Pitarakis/AP" data-image="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/24/Foreign/Images/Mideast_Israel_Palestinians-097fd.jpg?env=A" data-max-width="5552" data-ratio="1.446" data-title="July 24, 2014  " data-uuid="03adbd54-134e-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed" style="background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/projects/supergrid/img/loading-black-100x100.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 398px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 599px;">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The conflict’s devastation has left bomb craters and impassable streets. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="wp-volt-gal-caption-title" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">July 26, 2014</span><span class="wp-volt-gal-caption-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">An explosion during an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip is pictured from the Israeli border with Gaza before the cease-fire took effect. The death toll in Gaza soared to more than 1,000 as bodies were pulled from the rubble during the 12-hour truce that top diplomats urged Israel and Hamas to extend.</span> <span class="wp-volt-gal-caption-credit" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ronen Zvulun/Reuters</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Before the truce began Saturday morning, six Israeli soldiers were killed in battles across the Gaza Strip, Israel’s military said. Meanwhile, Palestinian deaths rose to more than 1,035 on Saturday, according to Gaza health officials, a dramatic increase since the beginning of the ground incursion. In Israel’s 2009 Gaza offensive, about 1,400 Palestinians were killed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Increasingly, the conflict is becoming a war of attrition, military and intelligence analysts say, resembling Israel’s war with Lebanon more than its previous conflicts with Hamas in 2009 and 2012. In Lebanon, too, casualties on both sides were high. Hamas, like Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, has shown a determination to confront Israel with well-trained fighters, clear combat strategies and rockets — as well as its tunnel networks, the destruction of which is Israel’s stated objective.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now, Israel is confronting the same kinds of divisive questions it faced in Lebanon: What are its goals in Gaza? And how long does it intend to remain there to achieve them? The questions underscore the country’s dilemma, torn between wanting a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/07/26/why-cease-fire-is-such-a-difficult-word-in-the-current-israel-hamas-conflict/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com">durable cease-fire</a> and wanting to destroy Hamas’s ability to torment Israelis.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The more you drag on, the more you stay there, the more the exit strategy becomes a blur,” said Yossi Melman, an Israeli intelligence analyst. “We will be trapped there, and we will have more casualties. If we don’t have a clear vision of what we want to achieve, we unwittingly will find ourselves reoccupying Gaza again.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Neither side, nor any of the diplomats seeking an end to the crisis, wants that. In Paris, envoys from Qatar, Turkey, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and the United States worked late into the night Saturday in an attempt to win an extension of the cease-fire, despite the reignited tensions.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They view a truce lasting several days — the goal of diplomatic efforts that fell short last week in Cairo — as a bridge to a sustainable cease-fire that would clear a path to addressing both sides’ demands. Israel wants to see Hamas demilitarized, while Hamas’s core demand is the lifting of Israel’s economic blockade of Gaza.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry met first with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, one of two key go-betweens for the United States, which is barred from direct contacts with Hamas leaders. “Palestinians need to live with dignity, freedom, with goods that can come in and out, and they need a life that is free from the current restraints that they feel on a daily basis, and obviously free from violence,” Kerry told reporters a day after his efforts to install a week-long truce fell short.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/gaza-rockets/" style="text-decoration: none;"><img class="" data-hi-res-src="http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Graphics/crossfire.jpg?uuid=m2KpUhRNEeSsVnc-VKZZBg" data-low-res-src="http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_400w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Graphics/crossfire.jpg?uuid=m2KpUhRNEeSsVnc-VKZZBg" src="http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/07/25/Foreign/Graphics/crossfire.jpg?uuid=m2KpUhRNEeSsVnc-VKZZBg" style="border: 0px; width: 599px;" /></a><br /><span class="pb-caption">Graphic: See how many rockets Hamas has launched into Israel and how many targets Israel has struck in Gaza</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Even that oblique reference to the Israeli grip on Hamas-ruled Gaza was unusual for the United States, Israel’s principal ally and international defender.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“At the same time, Israelis need to live free from rockets and the tunnels that threaten them,” Kerry said, adding, “Every conversation we had embraces a discussion about these competing interests that are real for both.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kerry met with the foreign minister of Qatar later in the day. Qatar is well placed as an intermediary, since the rich Persian Gulf state is presumed to fund Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, and hosts leader Khaled Meshal. Qatar is the likely source of funds to pay suspended salaries for government workers in Gaza, which cash-strapped Hamas has been unable to do.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As a diplomatic breakthrough was sought, Gazans seized advantage of the pause in fighting. In the three hardest-hit towns, residents rushed back to gather belongings and search for missing relatives after 24 hours of intense fighting and heavy bombing by Israel that left deep impact craters where apartment blocks once stood.<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/depth-of-gaza-devastation-becomes-clear-after-cease-fire/2014/07/26/a5a01702-14c9-11e4-9285-4243a40ddc97_story.html?hpid=z2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" title="www.washingtonpost.com"> Whole neighborhoods were transformed</a> intoacres of twisted metal and concrete dust. More than 100 bodies were pulled from the rubble.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the Shijaiyah neighborhood, east of central Gaza City, three brothers stood at the edge of a deep crater left by a large Israeli bomb. The day before it was their four-story apartment house, home to 30 family members. “We have nothing left,” said one of the brothers, Said Helou, 32, a baker.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yussif Abid al-Hamid, an emergency medical technician, said it would take more than 12 hours to dig the bodies out from the debris. “We need heavy equipment here,” he said. “We need earthmovers. We can’t dig with our bare hands.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In southern Israel, where most of the Hamas rockets land, residents also welcomed the pause.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“All of a sudden you could hear the birds again,” said Adele Raemer, who lives in Kibbutz Nirim, nestled along the border.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the nearby farming community of Netiv Ha’asara, Roni Keidar and her husband were making preparations for a mourning ceremony for one of their employees, a Thai worker killed Wednesday by a Hamas mortar lobbed from Gaza. He was the third civilian to be killed on the Israeli side.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It’s been a dreadful week,” Keidar said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Even as it faces diplomatic pressure to agree to a durable truce, Israel has given mixed signals about its exit strategy from Gaza. Some Israeli military officials say they have a limited goal: to destroy Hamas’s vast tunnel network, which could take days, even weeks. Other government officials say they want to keep pressure on Hamas, entering deeper into urban areas to weaken it. That could embroil Israel in Gaza for weeks, possibly months.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It is clear that, at least as far as the Israeli army is concerned, Israel’s work has not been accomplished yet,” said Giora Eiland, former head of Israel’s National Security Council, adding that the humanitarian cease-fire will “reduce pressure on Hamas.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Demilitarization should be the end goal, and everything short of that would be a mistake for Israel,” Eiland added.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Melman, the analyst, said he hoped there was “no hidden agenda to topple the Hamas regime,” because that could lead to more-radical militants taking control. “After Hamas, you could have ISIS,” he said, referring to the Islamic State, the group that has seized large swaths of Iraq.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It would be virtually impossible, he added, to get Hamas to give up its weapons. In killing 42 Israeli soldiers, Hamas already believes it is the victor and has the upper hand, he said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The U.N.-brokered deal that ended the Lebanon war called for Hezbollah to be disarmed. Today, it is believed to be stronger than ever, its rockets still pointed at Israel.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Gearan reported from Paris. William Booth in Gaza City contributed to this report.</span></div>
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Gaza campaign on pace to become deadliest Israeli conflict in recent years

Editor’s Note: This video contains graphic content. Death toll passes 1,000 as the 12-hour truce allows Gazans to come home only to fi...

Gaza campaign on pace to become deadliest Israeli conflict in recent years

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