The Israeli army announced a unilateral seven-hour humanitarian ceasefire Monday morning from 10am until 5pm local time for the whole Gaza strip except the border town of Rafah.
Netanyahu would not comment extensively on the movement of some troops out of Gaza but stressed that the redeployment did not indicate an end to Operation Protective Edge and that the IDF would continue to operate “only on the basis of security considerations.”
Sec.-Lt. Hadar Goldin named as presumably abducted officer; terrorists emerged from tunnel, suicide bomber detonated near soldiers prior to suspected kidnapping.
Soldiers are Sergeant First Class (res.) Daniel Marash, Capt. Omri Tal, St.-Sgt. Shay Kushnir, and St.-Sgt. Noam Rosenthal, and Capt. (res.) Liran Adir (Edry).
At Cabinet meeting, PM says mission on track and progress being made in destroying tunnels, eliminating Hamas terrorists; calls on nation to stand united for soldiers.