- Title: ISRAEL: Israeli infantry unit returns to Israel from Gaza
- Date: 3rd August 2014
- Summary: NEAR ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER, ISRAEL (AUGUST 3, 2014) (REUTERS) TROOPS STANDING, WALKING IN FIELD VARIOUS OF TROOPS WALKING IN FIELD TROOPS TALKING TROOPS WALKING TOWARDS SHADED AREA SOLDIER WALKING SOLDIER CLEANING GUN, OTHERS SITTING IN SHADE TROOPS IN SHADED AREA SOLDIER CLEANING GUN TROOPS WALKING IN FIELD TROOPS WALKING TOWARDS BUS SOLDIER WITH HIS BAG WALKING TOWA
- Embargoed: 18th August 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA1G5GRI8XY3DA1BZQD4G88E9DU
- Story Text: Dozens of Israeli soldiers belonging to one infantry unit returned from Gaza on Sunday (August 3).
Israeli media, on the 27th day of the fighting, reported that most Israeli troops had pulled out of Gaza, and Reuters TV footage showed a dozens of Israeli infantrymen leaving the enclave.
An Israeli military spokesman stopped short of calling the move a withdrawal, saying ground forces were being re-deployed but said residents from some evacuated Palestinian neighbourhoods had been told by the army they could return.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli shelling killed at least 30 people in Gaza, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to keep up pressure on Hamas even after the army completes its core mission of destroying a tunnel network that extends into Israel.
Netanyahu says Gaza's dominant Hamas faction bears ultimate responsibility for civilian casualties, accusing gunmen and rocket-launching squads of using residents in densely populated areas as "human shields".
The Israeli army said that more than 55 rockets had been fired from Gaza at Israel on Sunday.
Israeli troops had discovered a cache of 150 mortar bombs in the southern Gaza Strip. They had clashed with Palestinian fighters who had emerged from a tunnel and with others preparing to launch an anti-tank missile from a house in the area, a military statement said.
In Cairo, efforts to find a new truce were due to resume on Sunday.
A delegation from Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad arrived in the Egyptian capital, but a quick breakthrough seemed unlikely in the absence of Israeli representatives.
Israel began its air and naval offensive against Gaza on July 8 following a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas and other guerrillas, later escalating the operation into ground incursions.
The fighting on Sunday pushed the Gaza death toll given by Palestinian officials to 1,770, most of them civilians. Israel has confirmed that 64 soldiers have died in combat, while Palestinian rockets have also killed three civilians in Israel. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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