The much-trumpeted ceasefire is doing what all Palestinian ceasefires do: Killing Israelis.
An IDF non-commissioned officer was killed on Tuesday morning when a roadside bomb planted by Gaza operatives along Israel’s border with the Strip detonated under the army vehicle he was traveling in.
Another officer was seriously wounded and two soldiers were lightly hurt in the incident near the Kissufim crossing, the army said.
And of course, Hamas blames Israel.
It was not clear if the bomb had been planted after the cease-fire took hold, or whether it was an older device.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, but Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas leader, said Israel was to blame for continuing to fire into Gaza. Al-Masri said his group had not agreed to a full cease-fire but only to a “lull” in fighting.
“The Zionists are responsible for any aggression,” he said.
So what’s the AP angle on this story? “Retaliation.” Of course. This is the latest update:
Hamas militant hit by Israeli airstrike in Gaza
The Islamic Hamas movement says one of its members has been wounded in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip.The airstrike comes hours after a roadside bomb along Israel’s border with Gaza killed an Israeli soldier and wounded three others.
The original story and headline?
Deadly roadside bombing threatens Gaza truce
Palestinian militants detonated a bomb next to an Israeli army patrol along the border with Gaza on Tuesday, killing one soldier and wounding three in the first serious clash since a cease-fire went into effect more than a week ago.Israeli soldiers briefly crossed the border in search of the attackers, and Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, called an urgent meeting of Israel’s top defense officers, saying Israel “cannot accept” the attack.
“We will respond, but there is no point in elaborating,” Barak said in comments released by his office.
The explosion jolted the calm that has largely prevailed since Israel ended a devastating three-week offensive on Jan. 17. Since withdrawing its troops, Israel has threatened to retaliate hard for any violations of the truce.
Just in case the AP isn’t presenting Israel as bloodthirsty enough, they follow that lead up with this:
The flare-up came as Gazans struggle to resume normal life after the fighting, and as international donors discuss how best to help the territory rebuild.
Oh, and the AP is refining its boilerplate about the number of Palestinians killed in the war.
The Israeli offensive killed 1,285 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, according to records kept by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were also killed during the fighting.
A few days ago, it was “according to UN rights organizations” or some such thing. Somehow, the AP can’t manage its independent tally, the way it does with the daily Iraq body count.
As of Monday, Jan. 26, 2009, at least 4,236 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Why is that, I wonder?
No, I really don’t. That was rhetorical.