By BEN SALES<\/p>\n
TEL AVIV (JTA) \u2014 For the first time in years, Israeli ground troops crossed into Gaza.<\/p>\n
An Israeli tank crossing through a field in southern Israel near the border with Gaza, the day after Israel began its invasion of Gaza, July 18, 2014. (Photo by Hadas Parush\/Flash 90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Rather than just return to the status quo before the conflict of \u201cquiet for quiet\u201d \u2014 no Hamas missiles and no Israeli airstrikes \u2014 Israel\u2019s stated objectives are to bring a sustained cessation to missile fire from Gaza and to root out the infrastructure that Hamas has used to build up its weapons cache.<\/p>\n
\u201cOperation Protective Edge will continue until it reaches its goal,\u201d read a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday announcing the invasion. \u201cRestoring quiet to Israel\u2019s citizens for a prolonged period, while inflicting a significant blow to the infrastructures of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Israeli ground invasion of Gaza \u2013 its first since 2009 \u2014 aims to destroy Hamas\u2019 underground weapons stores and its network of tunnels in Gaza, which it uses to transport arms and personnel. In the first stages of the invasion Friday, Israeli troops identified several tunnels and entered Gaza City and other urban centers. Israel also lost its first soldier in the operation Friday, Sgt. Eitan Barak, 20.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu said Friday that the Israel Defense Forces should prepare for a \u201csignificant expansion\u201d of the invasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven here there is no guarantee of 100 percent success, but we are doing our utmost in order to achieve the maximum,\u201d Netanyahu said. \u201cWe chose to commence this operation after we had exhausted the other possibilities, and with the understanding that without action, the price that we would pay would be much greater.\u201d<\/p>\n
The invasion comes after a week and a half of Hamas missiles and Israeli airstrikes, along with failed efforts to reach a cease-fire. Hamas has so far launched more than 1,500 rockets at cities across Israel, and Israel has conducted more than 2,000 airstrikes in Gaza. Two Israelis and 265 Palestinians have now died in the conflict.<\/p>\n
Before Israel\u2019s ground invasion, Hamas had tried and failed to attack Israel by sea and land. On Thursday morning, the Israeli army spotted 13 Hamas militants entering Israel via a tunnel near a kibbutz. Once the militants saw they had been noticed, they escaped back into Gaza. The army said the group planned to kidnap Israelis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIDF forces thwarted an impending terror attack, preventing the terrorists from attacking an Israeli kibbutz,\u201d the army said in a statement. \u201cThe foiled attack could have had deadly and devastating consequences if carried out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attack came after Israel had accepted an Egyptian cease-fire deal Tuesday, which proposed an end to attacks, and had ceased airstrikes for six hours. But Hamas rejected the proposal, demanding that Israel end its blockade of Gaza and release dozens of Hamas prisoners.<\/p>\n
Had that cease-fire deal worked, the conflict would have ended much like the last Israel-Gaza clash in 2012, which saw only Israeli airstrikes. But ongoing negotiation attempts in Cairo failed Thursday, hampered by mistrust between Israel and Hamas, as well as between Hamas and the current Egyptian government led by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief.<\/p>\n
In 2012, the Muslim Brotherhood-led Egyptian government was friendly to Hamas and increased trade with Gaza. But the new government, which opposes the Brotherhood, has been hostile to Hamas, closing the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently inaugurated president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi shares Washington and Israel\u2019s view of Hamas as both a terrorist organization and a strategic threat,\u201d wrote Eric Trager, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, in a policy paper. \u201cHe is consequently both less able and less willing to fulfill Egypt\u2019s traditional role of mediating between Hamas and Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s offensive in 2009 ended after three weeks, but some members of Netanyahu\u2019s coalition want to go much further this time. Before the invasion, several Cabinet ministers and members of Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing Likud party said that Israel can ensure an end to rocket fire only by recapturing Gaza, which Israel withdrew from in 2005.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman, had strongly criticized Netanyahu for not responding more aggressively to Hamas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael must go all the way,\u201d Liberman said at a press conference Tuesday. \u201cWe must finish the operation with the IDF controlling all of the Gaza Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n
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