MIDEAST: Israeli soldiers near Gaza border operate a drone as thousands pray for Israeli soldiers at Western Wall

Record ID: 184979

  • Title: MIDEAST: Israeli soldiers near Gaza border operate a drone as thousands pray for Israeli soldiers at Western Wall
  • Date: 23rd July 2014
  • Summary: RESENDING WITH FULL SCRIPT ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER, ISRAEL (JULY 23, 2014) (REUTERS) ISRAELI SOLDIER FLYING A DRONE TROOPS DRIVING A MILITARY VEHICLE TROOPS IN VEHICLE WAVING ISRAELI FLAG NEWSPAPER LYING ON TANK SOLDIER PRAYING NEAR TANK FEMALE SOLDIERS WALKING PAST TANK VARIOUS OF FEMALE SOLDIER LOADING STRETCHER ONTO ARMOURED VEHICLE SOLDIER WITH WOUNDED ARM VARIOUS OF SOL
  • Embargoed: 7th August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Religion,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA3935LGSRGW0ESF921CBLLZROU
  • Story Text: Israeli soldiers near Gaza border on Wednesday (July 23) operated a drone used for military activity inside the coastal enclave as Israel kept high military presence around the border.
    Gaza fighting raged on Wednesday, displacing thousands more Palestinians in the battered territory as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said efforts to secure a truce between Israel and Hamas had made some progress.
    In a blow to Israel's economy and image, American aviation authorities extended a ban on U.S. flights to Tel Aviv for a second day, spooked by rocket salvoes out of the Gaza Strip, with many other global airlines also avoiding the Jewish state.
    Adding to the pressure on Israel, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said there was "a strong possibility" that it was committing war crimes in Gaza, where 687 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting.
    She also condemned indiscriminate Islamist rocket fire out of Gaza and the United Nations Human Rights Council said it would launch an international inquiry into alleged violations.
    Israel denied any wrongdoing. "Get lost," Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said on her Facebook page in response to the probe.
    Kerry met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a grim-faced Netanyahu on Wednesday. He was due to return later in the day to Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza and has mediated with Islamist Hamas.
    In Jerusalem thousands of Orthodox Jews gathered at Jerusalem's Western Wall to hold a prayer for the well-being of Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza.

    "I know that everyone here is davening for our soldiers because it's not just my son it's everyone's son. It's not just our brother but everyone's brother. And that's how we are supposed to feel, for every Jew - that's our brother," Jerusalem resident Brian Thor, whose son is a soldier fighting with the Israeli army, said.
    Israel announced that three of its soldiers were killed by explosive devices on Wednesday, lifting the army death toll to 32. Three civilians have also died in rocket attacks out of Gaza, including a Thai labourer hit on Wednesday.
    The military says one of its soldiers is also missing and believes he might be dead. Hamas says it has captured him, but has not released a picture of him in their hands.
    Israel launched its offensive on July 8 to halt rocket salvoes by Hamas and its allies, which have struggled under an Israeli-Egyptian economic blockade on Gaza and angered by a crackdown on their supporters in the nearby occupied West Bank.
    After aerial and naval bombardment failed to quell the outgunned guerrillas, Israel poured ground forces into the Gaza Strip last Thursday, looking to knock out Hamas's rocket stores and destroy a vast, underground network of tunnels.
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