Sunday, 3 August 2014

Gaza conflict: Missing Israeli soldier dead

The Israeli military says a soldier reported missing in Gaza on Friday is dead.

Hadar Goldin was believed to have been captured by militants during
fighting, leading to the collapse of a ceasefire shortly after it had
been declared.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had determined that Lt Goldin had died.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said the operation in Gaza will
continue until it restores security to Israeli citizens.

BBC correspondents in Gaza City reported the sound of ongoing

Israeli strikes on Sunday morning.

Agence France-Presse news agency quoted Palestinian emergency services
as saying 12 Palestinians had been killed early on Sunday but this has
not been independently confirmed.

Israeli media also reported fresh militant rocket attacks.

Hamas had denied it was holding the 23-year-old Lt Goldin captive,
saying it did not know the soldier's whereabouts.

The military wing of the Islamist group said it had lost contact with
some fighters in the area where Israel said the soldier had been
seized.

It said it believed the fighters and possibly Lt Goldin had been
killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Israel's defence minister and the chief military rabbi met the
soldier's family at their home in the town of Kfar Saba on Saturday
night.

Hundreds of well-wishers had gathered outside their home and there was
an outpouring of grief when the military's announcement was made
public.

It is understood the army came to its conclusion after examining DNA
evidence, reports the BBC's Bethany Bell in Jerusalem. No body has
been found.

Confirmation of Lt Goldin's death means 66 Israelis have now died in
the fighting, all but two of them soldiers. A Thai worker in Israel
also died.

Some 1,700 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed since the
conflict began more than three weeks ago.

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