captured is good as dead
JERUSALEM ? A newly agreed cease-fire in the Gaza conflict collapsed soon after it came into effect on Friday with the Israeli military announcing that two soldiers were killed and a third appeared to have been captured by Palestinian militants who emerged from a tunnel near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Gaza health officials said that 35 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 wounded as Israeli forces bombarded the area. Palestinian witnesses said by telephone that Israeli tank shells hit eastern Rafah as residents returned to inspect homes they had evacuated.
Hamas blamed Israel for violating the truce, saying in a statement that the announcement about the capture of one of its soldiers was ?to cover up the barbaric massacres, especially in Rafah.?
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said that government forces were moving to destroy a tunnel, as the terms of the cease-fire allowed for, when several militants came out of the ground.
Colonel Lerner said the militants included at least one suicide attacker, that there was an exchange of fire on the ground and that initial indications were that a soldier was apparently dragged back into the tunnel. He was unable to offer details about the soldier?s condition. He said the episode began at around 9:30 a.m., roughly 90 minutes after the 72-hour cease-fire came into effect.
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