Gaza City – Israel withdrew ground forces from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and started a 72-hour ceasefire with Hamas mediated by Egypt as a first step towards negotiations on a more enduring end to the month-old war.
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Israeli armour and infantry left Gaza ahead of the truce, with a military spokesman saying their main goal of destroying cross-border infiltration tunnels dug by Islamist militants had been completed. “Mission accomplished,” the military tweeted.
Troops and tanks will be “redeployed in defensive positions outside the Gaza Strip and we will maintain those defensive positions”, spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said, reflecting Israeli readiness to resume fighting if attacked.
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The war cost 65 soldiers & almost 200 wounded + the chareidy rabbi walles yesterday & many more in the world,
it was not worth
G-d bless and protect these heroes. They are the pride of the Jewish nation.
Israel lost this war big time, just brought down some real estate and killed a bunch of lower level fighters and civilians.
The tunnels will be rebuilt (and who knows how many still exist) and the missiles are still coming down.
Now Israel is negotiating, they will give ‘something’ and that something made it all worth for Hamas. Now they can gear up for round three.