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Hamas leader condemns Israel
8/2/2014 3:42:58 PM
In an exclusive interview with CNN's Nic Robertson, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said the group fights "honorably".
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Soldiers destroying tunnels
8/3/2014 1:24:49 AM
Israeli soldiers are heavily targeted as they work to destroy Hamas' tunnel network. CNN's Sara Sidner reports.
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U.N. worker reported killed in Gaza violence
8/2/2014 10:12:24 AM
- NEW: U.N. agency says a Gaza staff member was killed in a Rafah airstrike
- IDF tells Palestinians they can return to homes in Beit Lahiya area of northern Gaza
- Israel Defense Forces: 200 strikes carried out in past 24 hours on "terror targets" in Gaza
- Palestinian delegation is en route to Cairo to discuss cease-fire initiative, official says
Gaza City (CNN) -- The bloodshed in Gaza showed no sign of letting up Saturday, with 50 Palestinians reported killed amid renewed Israeli shelling following accusations that Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier.
The fate of the soldier, identified by the Israel Defense Forces as 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, remains unclear.
And each side blames the other for the collapse of an attempted cease-fire in Friday, which disintegrated before it ever really took hold.
Pointing the finger at Hamas and its militant allies for the attack, in which Goldin went missing and two other soldiers were killed, Israel resumed shelling on what it has described as militant strongholds in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to deliver a statement on Israeli operations in Gaza at 9 p.m. Saturday (2 p.m. ET) from Tel Aviv, according to his office.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told CNN's Nic Robertson Saturday that Israel's presence and destruction of tunnels in Gaza during an agreed-upon cease-fire had been rejected, saying that "a truce is a truce, but the presence of the Israeli forces inside Gaza and destroying the tunnels means it's an aggression."
"The Palestinian resistance has the right to self-defense and the right to deal with the invading Israeli forces who are inside our Gaza territories," Meshaal said in an exclusive interview from Doha, Qatar. He added that Hamas expressed its position to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry via Qatar's Foreign Minister.
"We did not deceive Mr. John Kerry, and we did not deceive the Israelis, we fight honorably," he said. "We told everyone that this is our position. ... Therefore they are the ones who should be responsible for this."
As of Saturday, the overall Palestinian death toll has risen to 1,650, with more than 8,900 wounded, said Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, on his Facebook page.
The IDF said Saturday morning that it had hit 200 "terror targets" in Gaza in the past 24 hours, including "tunnels, weapon manufacturing and storage facilities, and command and control centers."
A huge predawn blast rocked Gaza as the Islamic University was apparently hit by Israeli shelling. According to the IDF, it was targeting "a Hamas military wing facility" involved in weapons development within the building.
In addition, Israeli aircraft targeted a missile launcher used to fire at Tel Aviv early Saturday, the IDF said.
The missing soldier
By late Friday, there was no claim of responsibility for the capture of the missing soldier.
But speculation about his fate took a turn after the armed wing of Hamas, the al Qassam Brigades, announced it had lost contact with a group of its fighters in the Rafah area -- the same area where Goldin, age 23, was reportedly taken.
In a statement posted on its website, the militant group says it assumes that all of the fighters were killed in an Israeli airstrike, including possibly a soldier that Israel claims was captured. The statement stopped short of definitively saying the soldier was captured, using the phrasing "assuming he was captured by the fighters."
The group "has no information till this moment about the missing soldier, his place, or the circumstances of his disappearance," it added.
Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan denied any capture happened.
"It's clear that the capture of the soldier is an Israeli story; there's nothing from the resistance saying there was a capture," he told CNN.
Cease-fire initiative
As the conflict continued Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that an Egyptian cease-fire initiative -- involving negotiators from the Israeli and Palestinian sides -- was a "real chance" to stop the bloodshed and the best way to get help into Gaza and launch talks.
An Egyptian proposal put forward last month was accepted by Israel but rejected by Hamas.
An official Palestinian delegation is en route to Cairo to attend the negotiations, Hanan Ashrawi, executive committee member of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the West Bank, told CNN's "New Day." It's made up of five PLO members, five from Hamas and two from Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza.
"We're hoping that they will be able to negotiate not just an end to this latest tragic bloodshed and to save lives and end this carnage, but also to try to dismantle all the causes that have brought about such a horrific situation," she said.
According to Israeli media reports, Israel will not send a delegation to Cairo.
'Bombing is constant'
Israel's shelling appeared focused Saturday on southern Gaza, where the hunt for the missing soldier is on.
"The bombing is constant in Khan Yunis, it does not stop," said Ata Abu Rezq, a father of eight in the city, around 10 miles from Rafah in southern Gaza.
"I hear explosions in Rafah, I see smoke and fire from the places being bombed by Israel," he said.
The family has had no electricity for at least 36 hours and is relying on a generator for power, he said. "When it runs out ... we will have to see what happens," he said. "We use gas to cook. When we run out of gas we will really be in trouble."
Meanwhile, the IDF sent text messages to residents Saturday saying they may now return to the Beit Lahiya area, near Gaza's northern border with Israel. Residents are "advised to beware of explosive devices Hamas has spread across the area," it said.
It's unclear how many residents would have received the message given ongoing power outages and the poor state of telecoms inside Gaza.
But it could mean that Israel's operations in northern Gaza are winding down.
CNN teams in Gaza City said there appeared to be a lull in military activities there too and reported signs that Israeli tanks were repositioning. However, Hamas rocket fire was still continuing.
Short-lived ceasefire
The planned 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire appeared to erode after about 90 minutes Friday in Rafah, with the attack on Israeli soldiers.
The soldiers were working to destroy a tunnel when a militant emerged and detonated a suicide bomb, Israeli military Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
Before the cease-fire plan was announced, Netanyahu had said Israeli troops would continue destroying Hamas' network of tunnels that run under the border into Israel with or without a truce.
Hamdan, the Hamas spokesman, said that this part of the truce was not communicated to his group -- that Hamas' understanding was that there would be no military activity at all.
A U.N. spokesman said it was very clear Israeli would continue destroying the tunnels.
"Perhaps some will deny that now," said Jeffery Feltman, undersecretary-general for public affairs. "But, yes, it was very clear in the diplomacy being done yesterday. ... The Israelis never ceased saying that."
Around the time of the suicide bombing, Palestinian sources told CNN they could hear shelling in the area. The Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli attack on Rafah killed at least 62 people and wounded 350.
A Gaza staff member for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency was killed Friday in an air strike in Rafah, UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said via Twitter Saturday.
The staff member, who was not named, was also a school attendant, according to Gunness. Nine U.N. staff members in Gaza have been killed since the conflict began last month.
A Hamas spokesman said Israel broke the cease-fire before and after the hiatus by advancing its forces near civilian areas in Rafah and by occupying civilian homes to use as sniper positions.
The al Qassam Brigades said the clash with Israeli soldiers in which Goldin disappeared occurred before the cease-fire took effect.
The Israel Defense Forces countered that its troops in Rafah were attacked in a "brutal incident" that required them to defend themselves. At the same time, rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel, Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel's Prime Minister, told CNN.
What is Hamas' endgame in Gaza?
What is Israel's endgame in Gaza?
Inside a Hamas tunnel
Opinion: Gaza peace struggle drains me of hope
What You Need to Know About the Israel-Hamas Blame Game
CNN's Mariano Castillo and Laura Smith-Spark reported and wrote the story in Atlanta and London. CNN's Karl Penhaul, John Vause and Salma Abdelaziz contributed from Gaza City, and Tal Heinrich and Phil O'Sullivan from Jerusalem. CNN's Kareem Khadder and Samira Said also contributed.
Missing soldier was killed in combat, Israel says
8/2/2014 6:48:53 PM
- NEW: Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters rally in Washington
- Slain Israeli soldier, Lt. Hadar Goldin, is promoted posthumously
- Troops "managed to hurt severely" the capability of Hamas, Israeli PM says
- Hamas leader: Cease-fire was rejected on basis of Israel's ongoing operations
Gaza City (CNN) -- The soldier that Israel claimed Hamas militants captured Friday, as a temporary cease-fire to the conflict in Gaza rapidly unraveled, is dead, Israel's military said.
"Lieutenant Hadar Goldin ... was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip on Friday, August 1," the Israel Defense Forces announced early Sunday.
It's not clear whether Goldin, 23, was captured as the IDF had previously said, or whether he died alongside two other soldiers in an armed clash in Gaza. Military spokesman Peter Lerner said Goldin was promoted to lieutenant posthumously.
Speculation about his fate was already up in the air after the armed wing of Hamas, the al Qassam Brigades, announced it had lost contact with a group of its fighters in the Rafah area -- the same area where Goldin was reportedly taken.
In a statement posted on its website, the militant group says it assumes all the fighters died in an Israeli airstrike, including possibly an Israeli soldier. The group -- which denied having info on Goldin -- stopped short of saying the soldier was captured, using the phrasing "assuming he was captured by the fighters."
Whatever happened, the entire ordeal has only served to heighten the hostilities -- with Israel claiming it must attack Gaza in order to prevent the onslaught of rocket attacks on its territory, while Hamas and other Palestinians assert Israel is the aggressor and directly responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths.
And the bloodshed shows no signs of letting up.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Saturday to "continue to act in full scale" against Hamas until all militant tunnels are destroyed.
He told reporters in Tel Aviv that Israeli troops have "managed to hurt severely" the capability of Hamas during the Gaza operation. But they're not done.
"In the beginning of the operation we promised to bring back calm and order (to Israel), and we will continue to operate until this goal is reached no matter how much time or force it takes," Netanyahu said.
The prime minister said that after the tunnels are destroyed, Israeli forces will "regroup," depending on their security needs.
Izzat Risheq a senior Hamas leader and a member of its political bureau, told CNN that Netanyahu's statement was "an admission of failure, defeat and confusion."
"The Palestinian resistance will continue to stand up to this Zionist aggression and defend our people until this aggression stops and the siege ends and the just goals of our people are achieved," he said.
Barbs and accusations fly
Each side continued to blame the other for the collapse of an attempted cease-fire Friday, which disintegrated before it ever really took hold.
Israel has blamed Hamas for going after its soldiers, including Goldin, soon after the cease-fire was to begin. Since then, the IDF has resumed shelling -- including hitting 200 "terror targets" in Gaza in the past 24 hours, including "tunnels, weapon manufacturing and storage facilities, and command and control centers."
A huge predawn blast rocked Gaza as the Islamic University was apparently hit by Israeli shelling. According to the IDF, it was targeting "a Hamas military wing facility" involved in weapons development within the building.
In addition, Israeli aircraft targeted a missile launcher used to fire at Tel Aviv early Saturday, the IDF said.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told CNN's Nic Robertson that Israel thwarted the temporary peace by staying in Gaza and destroying tunnels there.
"A truce is a truce, but the presence of the Israeli forces inside Gaza and destroying the tunnels means it's an aggression," he said in an exclusive interview from Doha, Qatar.
"The Palestinian resistance has the right to self-defense and the right to deal with the invading Israeli forces who are inside our Gaza territories."
Talking about the Israelis, Meshaal said, "What were they doing during the truce? They were destroying tens of houses, justifying their actions that they were looking for tunnels. What kind of cease-fire is this, it has no meaning this way."
The Palestinian death toll Saturday stood at at least 1,712, with more than 9,000 wounded, said Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, via Twitter. The dead included 398 children, 207 women and 74 elderly people.
In a statement, Palestinian officials warned of a public health disaster because of the lack of water, sanitation and primary health care.
The health ministry said 10,000 homes have been destroyed in the Israeli operation, displacing 450,000 people. Shelters were overcrowded and unsanitary. Cases of viral meningitis have jumped from five to 53 per day, the ministry says. And shelling and aerial attacks prevented authorities from retrieving decomposing bodies, which pose a significant health threat.
Ata Abu Rezq, a father of eight in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, described the bombing there as relentless. He reported fire and smoke about 10 miles away in Rafah.
His family has had no electricity for at least 36 hours and is relying on a generator for power, he said. "When it runs out ... we will have to see what happens," he said.
"We use gas to cook. When we run out of gas, we will really be in trouble."
What is Hamas' endgame in Gaza?
What is Israel's endgame in Gaza?
Peace efforts out of Cairo
As the conflict continued, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi touted an Egyptian cease-fire initiative as a "real chance" to stop the bloodshed and the best way to get help into Gaza and launch talks.
An Egyptian proposal put forward last month was accepted by Israel but rejected by Hamas.
An official Palestinian delegation arrived in Cairo on Saturday to attend the negotiations, the official news agency MENA reported.
The delegation included a representative of Fatah and Palestinian intelligence, with Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives set to arrive later, the report said.
"We're hoping that they will be able to negotiate not just an end to this latest tragic bloodshed and to save lives and end this carnage, but also to try to dismantle all the causes that have brought about such a horrific situation," Hanan Ashrawi, executive committee member of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the West Bank, told CNN's "New Day.
But, according to Israeli media reports, Israel will not send a delegation to Cairo.
The divisions between the two were on display as far away as Washington, D.C., where thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied outside of the White House, calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel.
"Palestinians are humans, too. We bleed all the same," said Nader Kalifa, an American of Palestinian descent. "The innocent civilians, all they want is peace. They just want some hope. We need to give them something."
Tensions flared when a small group of pro-Israel protesters gathered on the margins of the pro-Palestinian rally. Both groups shouted slogans and, in a handful of cases, some strong words, at each other.
Inside a Hamas tunnel
Opinion: Gaza peace struggle drains me of hope
What you need to know about the Israel-Hamas blame game
CNN's Mary Grace Lucas, Greg Botelho, Ray Sanchez, Karl Penhaul, John Vause, Tal Heinrich, Phil O'Sullivan, Samira Said and Ali Younes contributed to this report. Salma Abdelaziz is in Gaza with Vause.
A first for Usain Bolt
8/2/2014 5:50:43 PM
- Usain Bolt anchors Jamaica to gold in 4x100m relay
- First Commonwealth Games gold for track and field icon
- Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce leads Jamaican women to gold in sprint relay
- Tom Daley completes hat-trick of titles in men's 10m platform diving
Follow us at @WorldSportCNN and like us on Facebook
(CNN) -- The very best was reserved for last and Usain Bolt did not disappoint.
The track and field superstar took the baton on the anchor leg of the sprint relay for Jamaica a stride behind an inspired English quartet before surging clear in the home straight -- the winning time a Commonwealth Games record of 38.58 seconds.
Despite being a six-time Olympic champion, it was Bolt's first gold at the Commonwealth Games and he celebrated by prolonged laps of honor of Hampden Park, signing autographs and posing for endless selfies.
Glasgow was fun..great team work to get the baton around.. TeamJamaica all day everyday #glasgow2014... http://t.co/wSsJRlc8jG
— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) August 2, 2014 It was a fitting finale for the athletics program and Bolt had treated the capacity crowd to his usual pre-race antics, cavorting to "I'm Gonna Be" by the Proclaimers before switching to race mode as only he can.
Read: Montsho fails drugs test at Games
England's last leg runner Dan Talbot might have dreamed of gold but he could not match Bolt's giant stride and had to settle for a deserved silver ahead of Trinidad and Tobago.
Jamaica's women's quartet also won their sprint relay, anchored by the reigning Olympic and world sprint champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
Like Bolt, she has been having a relatively low-key year ahead of preparing for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, but still showed a neat turn of foot to lead her team home in 41.83 seconds, also a Games record.
Nigeria took silver ahead of England.
Earlier, 40-year-old mother of two Jo Pavey struck a blow for veteran athletes with a superb bronze in the women's 5,000m for England.
Read: From YouTube lessons to Olympic final
Pavey pushed world class Kenyan pair Mercy Cherono and Janet Kiso all the way on a pulsating final lap before finishing a superb third.
There was another fairytale story in the men's javelin where Julius Yego of Kenya, famous for perfecting his technique by watching clips on YouTube, took gold with a throw of 83.87 meters.
Away from the track and field action, England's Tom Daley dominated the men's 10m platform diving to retain his title in superb style.
He put together six fine dives to win by over 82 points.
The 20-year-old Daley was one of the poster boys of the London 2012 Olympics, where he took bronze, and his gold was one of the highlights for an England team who have easily topped the medals table at the Games ahead of arch-rivals Australia.
The final day of action will see the men's and women's road races in cycling and an eagerly-anticipated New Zealand-Australia clash in the women's netball final.
Queen Elizabeth II will officially close the Games Sunday evening after 11 days of action.
Read: From overweight smoker to marathon contender
10 believed killed in attack
8/3/2014 8:21:09 AM
At least 10 people were killed and several others wounded in the shelling near a U.N. school in southern Gaza.
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Bolt helps team sprint to record
8/3/2014 3:22:58 AM
- Usain Bolt anchors Jamaica to gold in 4x100m relay
- First Commonwealth Games gold for track and field icon
- Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce leads Jamaican women to gold in sprint relay
- Tom Daley completes hat-trick of titles in men's 10m platform diving
Follow us at @WorldSportCNN and like us on Facebook
(CNN) -- The very best was reserved for last and Usain Bolt did not disappoint.
The track and field superstar took the baton on the anchor leg of the sprint relay for Jamaica a stride behind an inspired English quartet before surging clear in the home straight -- the winning time a Commonwealth Games record of 38.58 seconds.
Despite being a six-time Olympic champion, it was Bolt's first gold at the Commonwealth Games and he celebrated by prolonged laps of honor of Hampden Park, signing autographs and posing for endless selfies.
Glasgow was fun..great team work to get the baton around.. TeamJamaica all day everyday #glasgow2014... http://t.co/wSsJRlc8jG
— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) August 2, 2014 It was a fitting finale for the athletics program and Bolt had treated the capacity crowd to his usual pre-race antics, cavorting to "I'm Gonna Be" by the Proclaimers before switching to race mode as only he can.
Read: Montsho fails drugs test at Games
England's last leg runner Dan Talbot might have dreamed of gold but he could not match Bolt's giant stride and had to settle for a deserved silver ahead of Trinidad and Tobago.
Jamaica's women's quartet also won their sprint relay, anchored by the reigning Olympic and world sprint champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
Like Bolt, she has been having a relatively low-key year ahead of preparing for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, but still showed a neat turn of foot to lead her team home in 41.83 seconds, also a Games record.
Nigeria took silver ahead of England.
Earlier, 40-year-old mother of two Jo Pavey struck a blow for veteran athletes with a superb bronze in the women's 5,000m for England.
Read: From YouTube lessons to Olympic final
Pavey pushed world class Kenyan pair Mercy Cherono and Janet Kiso all the way on a pulsating final lap before finishing a superb third.
There was another fairytale story in the men's javelin where Julius Yego of Kenya, famous for perfecting his technique by watching clips on YouTube, took gold with a throw of 83.87 meters.
Away from the track and field action, England's Tom Daley dominated the men's 10m platform diving to retain his title in superb style.
He put together six fine dives to win by over 82 points.
The 20-year-old Daley was one of the poster boys of the London 2012 Olympics, where he took bronze, and his gold was one of the highlights for an England team who have easily topped the medals table at the Games ahead of arch-rivals Australia.
The final day of action will see the men's and women's road races in cycling and an eagerly-anticipated New Zealand-Australia clash in the women's netball final.
Queen Elizabeth II will officially close the Games Sunday evening after 11 days of action.
Read: From overweight smoker to marathon contender
Athletics star fails drugs test
8/3/2014 1:20:32 AM
- Botswana's Amantle Montsho fails drugs test
- Montsho tests positive for banned stimulant at Commonweath Games
- Montsho is a former world 400m champion
- Usain Bolt to highlight final day of track and field at Games
Follow us at @WorldSportCNN and like us on Facebook
(CNN) -- The Commonwealth Games was hit by a fresh doping scandal Saturday after former world 400m champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana failed a drugs test.
Montsho, who was the defending her Commonwealth title in Glasgow over her specialist distance, tested positive after Tuesday's final for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine.
The 31-year-old had finished a disappointing fourth at Hampden Park behind a Jamaican clean sweep led by Stephanie McPherson.
A statement from the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) said: "In accordance with the CGF anti-doping standard for the Commonwealth Games, the CGF federation court conducted a provisional hearing this afternoon to consider an adverse analytical finding submitted by Amantle Montsho of Botswana, after the women's 400 metres final on July 29.
"The athlete's A sample was found to contain methylhexaneamine, prohibited as a stimulant under class s6 of WADA's Prohibited List.
"Ms Montsho was notified of her A sample result and has asked for her B sample to be tested, which will take place at the accredited laboratory in London on Monday August 4."
Montsho was feted in Botswana after claiming the Commonwealth Games crown in Delhi in 2010 and she built on that success to take the world title in 2011.
She finished second to Britain's Christine Ohuruogu in her defense of that title in Berlin last year and came into the Glasgow Games as one of the favorites.
Montsho is by far the most high profile athlete to have failed a drugs test at the Games.
Earlier this week, 16-year-old Nigerian weightlifter Chika Amalaha was stripped of her gold medal after giving positive tests for prohibited diuretics and masking agents.
Welsh track and field competitors Rhys Williams and Gareth Warburton were withdrawn from their respective competitions before the start of the Games after failing doping controls.
The track and field action at the Games concludes later Saturday, with six-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt running the anchor leg for Jamaica in the 4x100m relay.
Sunday will see the closing ceremony with Queen Elizabeth II in attendance.
Read: Bolt's training partner wins gold
Zakaria: The rise of Putinism
8/3/2014 1:35:50 AM
The Hungarian PM said this week the country would practice illiberal democracy. Is he taking a page from Putin's book?
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Netanyahu: No letup on Hamas
8/2/2014 3:42:42 PM
- NEW: Troops "managed to hurt severely" the capability of Hamas, Israeli PM says
- Hamas leader: Cease-fire was rejected on basis of Israel's ongoing operations
- Israel Defense Forces: 200 strikes carried out in past 24 hours on "terror targets" in Gaza
- Palestinian delegation is en route to Cairo to discuss cease-fire initiative, official says
Gaza City (CNN) -- The bloodshed in Gaza showed no sign of letting up Saturday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to "continue to act in full scale" against Hamas until all militant tunnels are destroyed.
In the past day, 50 Palestinians were reported killed amid renewed Israeli shelling that followed accusations that Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier.
The fate of the soldier, identified by the Israel Defense Forces as 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, remains unclear.
Netanyahu told reporters in Tel Aviv on Saturday that Israeli troops "managed to hurt severely" the capability of Hamas during the Gaza operation.
"Israel will do everything to bring our kidnapped soldier home," he said, offering his condolences to the families of soldiers killed during the incursion.
Netanyahu said forces will "continue to act in full scale" against Hamas in order to restore "quiet, peace and calm" to Israel.
"In the beginning of the operation we promised to bring back calm and order and we will continue to operate until this goal is reached no matter how much time or force it takes," he said.
Netanyahu said that after the tunnels are destroyed, Israeli forces will "regroup," depending on their security needs.
Izzat Risheq a senior Hamas leader and a member of its political bureau, told CNN that Netanyahu's statement was "an admission of failure, defeat and confusion."
"The Palestinian resistance will continue to stand up to this Zionist aggression and defend our people until this aggression stops and the siege ends and the just goals of our people are achieved," he said.
Barbs and accusations fly
In the end, each side continued to blame the other for the collapse of an attempted cease-fire in Friday, which disintegrated before it ever really took hold.
Pointing the finger at Hamas and its militant allies for the attack, in which Goldin went missing and two other soldiers were killed, Israel resumed shelling on what it has described as militant strongholds in Gaza.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told CNN's Nic Robertson that the group had rejected a proposed cease-fire outright because of Israel's continued presence and destruction of tunnels in Gaza. "A truce is a truce, but the presence of the Israeli forces inside Gaza and destroying the tunnels means it's an aggression," he said.
"The Palestinian resistance has the right to self-defense and the right to deal with the invading Israeli forces who are inside our Gaza territories," Meshaal said in an exclusive interview from Doha, Qatar. He added that Hamas expressed its position to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry via Qatar's Foreign Minister.
"We did not deceive Mr. John Kerry, and we did not deceive the Israelis, we fight honorably," he said. "We told everyone that this is our position. ... Therefore, they are the ones who should be responsible for this."
As of Saturday, the overall Palestinian death toll has risen to 1,712, with more than 9,000 wounded, said Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, via Twitter. The dead included 398 children, 207 women and 74 elderly people.
In a statement, Palestinian officials warned of a public health disaster because of the lack of water, sanitation and primary health care.
The health ministry said 10,000 homes have been destroyed in the Israeli operation, displacing 450,000 people. Shelters were overcrowded and unsanitary. Cases of viral meningitis have jumped from five to 53 per day, the ministry says. And shelling and aerial attacks prevented authorities from retrieving decomposing bodies, which pose a significant health threat.
The IDF said that it had hit 200 "terror targets" in Gaza in the past 24 hours, including "tunnels, weapon manufacturing and storage facilities, and command and control centers."
A huge predawn blast rocked Gaza as the Islamic University was apparently hit by Israeli shelling. According to the IDF, it was targeting "a Hamas military wing facility" involved in weapons development within the building.
In addition, Israeli aircraft targeted a missile launcher used to fire at Tel Aviv early Saturday, the IDF said.
The missing soldier
Before Netanyahu's news conference, Goldin's parents -- Dr. Simcha Goldin and wife Hedva -- pleaded that Israel bring their son back.
"Hadar is our smile and you can see it in all the photos," Hedva Goldin said. "Hadar is the child who sees the good in everything. We raised four wonderful children for the glory of Israel."
By late Friday, there was no claim of responsibility for the capture of the missing soldier.
But speculation about his fate took a turn after the armed wing of Hamas, the al Qassam Brigades, announced it had lost contact with a group of its fighters in the Rafah area -- the same area where Goldin, age 23, was reportedly taken.
In a statement posted on its website, the militant group says it assumes that all of the fighters were killed in an Israeli airstrike, including possibly a soldier that Israel claims was captured. The statement stopped short of definitively saying the soldier was captured, using the phrasing "assuming he was captured by the fighters."
The group "has no information till this moment about the missing soldier, his place, or the circumstances of his disappearance," it added.
What is Hamas' endgame in Gaza?
What is Israel's endgame in Gaza?
Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan denied any capture happened.
"It's clear that the capture of the soldier is an Israeli story; there's nothing from the resistance saying there was a capture," he told CNN.
Cease-fire initiative
As the conflict continued, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that an Egyptian cease-fire initiative -- involving negotiators from the Israeli and Palestinian sides -- was a "real chance" to stop the bloodshed and the best way to get help into Gaza and launch talks.
An Egyptian proposal put forward last month was accepted by Israel but rejected by Hamas.
An official Palestinian delegation arrived in Cairo on Saturday to attend the negotiations, the official news agency MENA reported.
The delegation included a representative of Fatah and Palestinian intelligence, with Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives set to arrive later, the report said.
"We're hoping that they will be able to negotiate not just an end to this latest tragic bloodshed and to save lives and end this carnage, but also to try to dismantle all the causes that have brought about such a horrific situation," Hanan Ashrawi, executive committee member of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the West Bank, told CNN's "New Day.
According to Israeli media reports, Israel will not send a delegation to Cairo.
'Bombing is constant'
Israel's shelling appeared focused Saturday on southern Gaza, where the hunt for the missing soldier is on.
"The bombing is constant in Khan Yunis, it does not stop," said Ata Abu Rezq, a father of eight in the city, around 10 miles from Rafah in southern Gaza.
"I hear explosions in Rafah, I see smoke and fire from the places being bombed by Israel," he said.
The family has had no electricity for at least 36 hours and is relying on a generator for power, he said. "When it runs out ... we will have to see what happens," he said. "We use gas to cook. When we run out of gas we will really be in trouble."
The planned 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire appeared to erode after about 90 minutes Friday in Rafah, with the attack on Israeli soldiers.
The soldiers were working to destroy a tunnel when a militant emerged and detonated a suicide bomb, Israeli military Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
Inside a Hamas tunnel
Opinion: Gaza peace struggle drains me of hope
What You Need to Know About the Israel-Hamas Blame Game
CNN's Mariano Castillo, Laura Smith-Spark and Ray Sanchez reported and wrote the story in Atlanta, London and New York. CNN's Karl Penhaul, John Vause and Salma Abdelaziz contributed from Gaza City, and Tal Heinrich and Phil O'Sullivan from Jerusalem. CNN's Samira Said and Ali Younes also contributed.
Israeli military: Soldier killed by suicide bomber
8/3/2014 3:19:56 AM
- NEW: Shelling hits the area of a U.N.-run school
- NEW: The death toll in Gaza rises to 1,756, a health ministry official says
- Israel's military initially said Lt. Hadar Goldin was captured and killed
- It now says Goldin was killed in a suicide bombing along with 2 other soldiers
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Yet another attack near a U.N.-run school in southern Gaza led to more deaths as the conflict between Israel and Hamas rages on.
At least 10 people were killed and several others wounded Sunday in the attack, the spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said.
Dr. Ashraf el-Qedra said the U.N. facility used as a shelter for the displaced in Rafah was targeted.
Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, tweeted that the school was sheltering almost 3,000 internally displaced people.
"I can confirm a shelling incident has caused multiple deaths and injuries in the vicinity of a school," Gunness told CNN's New Day on Sunday morning. "I am not saying it was a direct hit, and we are not confirming who it's by yet. We hope to have more details later."
The IDF has not yet commented on the reported attack. And it was unclear if the school was targeted, directly impacted or if shells fell nearby.
But at least one other U.N.-run school in Gaza has been pounded by violence in the past week.
Last Wednesday, another school-turned-shelter in Gaza was struck. Sanaa Abugerad was among some 3,000 Palestinians at that shelter when it was hit by artillery.
"We saw the shells when they hit, and shrapnel was falling like rain," she said. "I was so scared and the school filled with smoke. We poured water in our eyes just to see."
The Palestinian Health Ministry said 20 people were killed in that attack. The United Nations blamed Israel for that attack, with Gunness saying an initial assessment indicates Israeli artillery hit the school.
But Israel said a group of militants fired at Israeli soldiers from the vicinity, and the soldiers "responded by firing at the origin of the fire."
And the deaths continue to mount. At least 1,756 people have been killed in Gaza since the current Israel-Hamas conflict began July 8, according to el-Qedra. In Israel, 64 soldiers and three civilians have been killed.
Palestinian officials warned of a public health disaster because of the lack of water, sanitation and primary health care.
Israel's story on soldier changes
An Israeli soldier was not captured and killed as initially believed, but died in an attack by a suicide bomber, the military said Sunday.
Israel had initially accused Hamas militants of capturing Lt. Hadar Goldin on Friday as a temporary cease-fire to the conflict in Gaza rapidly unraveled.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, spokesman for Israel Defense Forces, said later Sunday that Goldin was not captured and killed, but died in a suicide bombing along with two other Israeli soldiers. The IDF said militants in Gaza carried out the suicide attack.
Some of Goldin's remains were found in and around the Gaza tunnel where the attack took place, Lerner said. He did not provide any more details on the purported suicide bombing.
Goldin, 23, was promoted to lieutenant posthumously.
Speculation about his fate varied wildly after the armed wing of Hamas, the al Qassam Brigades, announced it had lost contact with a group of its fighters in the Rafah area -- the same area where Goldin was reportedly taken.
In a statement posted on its website, the militant group said it assumed all the fighters died in an Israeli airstrike, including possibly an Israeli soldier. The group -- which denied having information on Goldin -- stopped short of saying the soldier was captured but said it was "assuming he was captured by the fighters."
Whatever happened, the entire ordeal has only served to heighten the hostilities -- with Israel claiming it must attack Gaza to prevent the onslaught of rocket attacks on its territory, while Hamas and other Palestinians assert Israel is the aggressor and directly responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths.
No rest on both sides
And the bloodshed shows no signs of letting up.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Saturday to "continue to act in full scale" against Hamas until all militant tunnels are destroyed.
He told reporters in Tel Aviv that Israeli troops have "managed to hurt severely" the capability of Hamas during the Gaza operation. But they're not done.
"In the beginning of the operation we promised to bring back calm and order (to Israel), and we will continue to operate until this goal is reached no matter how much time or force it takes," Netanyahu said.
The Prime Minister said that after the tunnels are destroyed, Israeli forces will "regroup," depending on their security needs.
But Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told CNN's Nic Robertson that Israel thwarted the temporary peace by staying in Gaza and destroying tunnels there.
"A truce is a truce, but the presence of the Israeli forces inside Gaza and destroying the tunnels means it's an aggression," he said in an exclusive interview from Doha, Qatar.
"The Palestinian resistance has the right to self-defense and the right to deal with the invading Israeli forces who are inside our Gaza territories."
Talking about the Israelis, Meshaal said, "What were they doing during the truce? They were destroying tens of houses, justifying their actions that they were looking for tunnels. What kind of cease-fire is this, it has no meaning this way."
Peace efforts out of Cairo
As the conflict continued, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi touted a cease-fire initiative as a "real chance" to stop the bloodshed and the best way to get help into Gaza and launch talks.
An Egyptian proposal put forward last month was accepted by Israel but rejected by Hamas.
An official Palestinian delegation arrived in Cairo on Saturday to attend the negotiations, the Egyptian state-run news agency MENA reported.
The delegation included a representative of Fatah and Palestinian intelligence, with Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives set to arrive later, the report said.
Israel will not send a delegation to Cairo, according to media reports.
CNN's Matthew Chance reported from Jerusalem; Samira Said and Holly Yan reported from Atlanta. CNN's Anas Hamdan, Ali Younes and Tal Heinrich contributed to the report.
Gaza: Deadly strike near U.N.-run school
8/3/2014 8:18:31 AM
- NEW: Red Cross trucks carrying blood and emergency shelter kits have to turn back
- The death toll in Gaza rises to 1,756, a Health Ministry official says
- Israel's military initially said Lt. Hadar Goldin was captured and killed
- It now says Goldin was killed in a suicide bombing along with 2 other soldiers
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Yet another attack near a U.N.-run school in Gaza led to new carnage as the conflict between Israel and Hamas raged unabated.
At least 10 people were killed and several others wounded Sunday in the shelling near the school in Rafah, in southern Gaza, the spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said.
"The dead and wounded in Rafah are still under the rubble and in the streets," Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Ashraf el-Qedra said.
Thousands of Gaza residents had flocked to the shelter to escape weeks of violence -- only to encounter more bloodshed.
Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, tweeted that the school was sheltering almost 3,000 internally displaced people.
"I can confirm a shelling incident has caused multiple deaths and injuries in the vicinity of a school," Gunness told CNN's "New Day" on Sunday morning. "I am not saying it was a direct hit, and we are not confirming who it's by yet. We hope to have more details later."
There has been no comment so far from the Israel Defense Forces on the reported attack. And it was unclear whether the school was targeted, directly impacted or if shells fell nearby.
But at least two other U.N.-run schools in Gaza have been pounded by violence in the past month.
Last Wednesday, another school-turned-shelter in Gaza was struck by artillery.
Sanaa Abugerad was among some 3,000 Palestinians at that shelter when it was hit. "We saw the shells when they hit, and shrapnel was falling like rain," she said. "I was so scared and the school filled with smoke. We poured water in our eyes just to see."
The Palestinian Health Ministry said 20 people were killed in that attack. The United Nations blamed Israel for that attack; Gunness said an initial assessment indicates Israeli artillery hit the school.
But Israel said a group of militants fired at Israeli soldiers from the vicinity, and the soldiers "responded by firing at the origin of the fire."
And another school attack in northern Gaza on July 24 left 16 people dead, U.N. and Palestinian officials said.
The IDF said "a single errant Israeli mortar" landed in that school's courtyard, and that IDF footage "shows the courtyard was empty."
Throughout Gaza, the death toll continues to mount every day.
At least 1,756 people have been killed in Gaza since the current Israel-Hamas conflict began July 8, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said.
And in the past month, at least 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel have been killed.
Humanitarian disaster
Palestinian officials described a public health crisis because of the lack of water, sanitation and primary health care.
Surgeons in Gaza have reported working 20-hour shifts to try to keep up with a flood of residents wounded by attacks. And the medical supplies are dwindling.
A pair of trucks from the International Committee of the Red Cross tried to enter Gaza to deliver emergency aid kits and blood -- but had to turn away due to security concerns, ICRC spokeswoman Cecilia Goin said Sunday.
"The trucks are carrying a portion of ICRC's 5,000 home destruction kits ... for those whose homes have been completely destroyed or partially destroyed, and 3,000 units of blood," Goin said.
Israel's story on soldier changes
An Israeli soldier was not captured and killed as initially believed, but died in an attack by a suicide bomber, the military said Sunday.
Israel had initially accused Hamas militants of capturing Lt. Hadar Goldin on Friday, as a temporary cease-fire to the conflict in Gaza rapidly unraveled.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, spokesman for the IDF, said Sunday that Goldin was not captured and killed, but died in a suicide bombing along with two other Israeli soldiers. The IDF said militants in Gaza carried out the suicide attack.
Some of Goldin's remains were found in and around the Gaza tunnel where the attack took place, Lerner said. He did not provide any more details on the purported suicide bombing.
Goldin, 23, was promoted to lieutenant posthumously.
Speculation about his fate varied wildly after the armed wing of Hamas, the al Qassam Brigades, announced it had lost contact with a group of its fighters in the Rafah area -- the same area where Goldin was reportedly taken.
In a statement posted on its website, the militant group said it assumed all the fighters died in an Israeli airstrike, possibly along with an Israeli soldier. The group -- which denied having information on Goldin -- stopped short of saying the soldier was captured but said it was "assuming he was captured by the fighters."
Whatever happened, the entire ordeal has only served to heighten the hostilities -- with Israel saying it must attack Gaza to prevent the onslaught of rocket attacks on its territory, while Hamas and other Palestinians say Israel is the aggressor and directly responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths.
No rest on both sides
And the bloodshed shows no signs of letting up.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Saturday to "continue to act in full scale" against Hamas until all militant tunnels from Gaza to Israel are destroyed.
He told reporters in Tel Aviv that Israeli troops have "managed to hurt severely" the capability of Hamas during the Gaza operation. But they're not done.
"In the beginning of the operation we promised to bring back calm and order (to Israel), and we will continue to operate until this goal is reached, no matter how much time or force it takes," Netanyahu said.
The Prime Minister said that after the tunnels are destroyed, Israeli forces will "regroup," depending on their security needs.
But Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told CNN's Nic Robertson that Israel thwarted the temporary peace by staying in Gaza and destroying tunnels there.
"A truce is a truce, but the presence of the Israeli forces inside Gaza and destroying the tunnels means it's an aggression," he said in an exclusive interview from Doha, Qatar.
"The Palestinian resistance has the right to self-defense and the right to deal with the invading Israeli forces who are inside our Gaza territories."
Talking about the Israelis, Meshaal said, "What were they doing during the truce? They were destroying tens of houses, justifying their actions that they were looking for tunnels. What kind of cease-fire is this, it has no meaning this way."
Peace efforts out of Cairo
As the conflict continued, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi touted a cease-fire initiative as a "real chance" to stop the bloodshed and the best way to get help into Gaza and launch talks.
An Egyptian proposal put forward last month was accepted by Israel but rejected by Hamas.
An official Palestinian delegation arrived in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Saturday to attend the negotiations, the Egyptian state-run news agency MENA reported.
The delegation included a representative of Fatah and Palestinian intelligence, with Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives set to arrive later, the report said.
Israel will not send a delegation to Cairo, according to media reports.
CNN's Matthew Chance reported from Jerusalem; Samira Said and Holly Yan reported from Atlanta. CNN's Anas Hamdan, Ali Younes and Tal Heinrich contributed to the report.
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