Kidnapped soldier Hadar Goldin was pronounced dead by the IDF. Prime Minister Netanyahu calls on all decent people to stand with Israel in the war against Hamas.
Late Saturday night, a special committee led by the IDF Chief Rabbi, announced the death of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, 23, an IDF infantry officer of the Givati Brigade, who was reported kidnapped by Hamas. Goldin was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning.
As Goldin’s group was attacked, two other soldiers, Benaya Sarel, 26, and Liel Gidoni, 20, were also killed.
At the announcement of Goldin’s death, hundreds had been rallying outside the Goldin home in Kfar Saba in a show of support for the family.
The attack by Hamas took place shortly after the beginning of what was to be a 72-hour ceasefire, to which, it seems, Israel had agreed reluctantly.
Netanyahu to US: Do Not Second-Guess Me Again on Hamas
Several media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday told US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro that the Obama administration was “not to ever second-guess me again” regarding Hamas and that Washington should trust his judgment on these issues, according to sources familiar with the conversations between Israeli and American officials.
US Secretary of State John Kerry after meeting on July 23 in Ramallah to negotiate a ceasefire. (Photo: Issam Rimawi/Flash90)
At a press conference that took place on Saturday evening several hours before the report of Goldin’s death, Netanyahu said that the 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire had been “requested by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and by [US] Secretary [John] Kerry. It was based on specific assurances that were given by Qatar that all the Palestinian factions would honor or would hold their fire. That’s how we did this. Now, in direct violation of those assurances, at approximately 9:30 in the morning, our soldiers came under attack, and this was a pre-planned operation in southern Gaza,” carried out by a suicide bomber.
Israeli PM: Stand with Israel against Hamas Terror
“So Hamas again deliberately and cynically violated commitments it made to the United Nations, to the Secretary of State of the United States,” Netanyahu asserted. “Hamas again showed its cruel eagerness to abuse Gaza’s civilians. Who’s the humanitarian pause for? For them, for the people that Hamas is purportedly representing.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Flash90)
Hamas “violates the humanitarian ceasefire that is supposed to serve them and would serve them. So it rejected a ceasefire that promised the Gazan people immediate relief. Hamas again mistakenly believes that the people of Israel do not have the will and determination to fight them, and Hamas again will learn the hard way that Israel will do whatever it must do to protect its people.
“I call on all responsible international leaders and decent people everywhere to stand with Israel now, stand with Israel as it confronts Hamas, stand with Israel as it defends against Hamas’s deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on our civilians, stand with Israel, a democracy fighting a ruthless terrorist organization committed to our destruction. There is only one place for decent civilized people to stand and that’s to stand with Israel.”
Author: Atara Beck
Senior Writer/Editor, United with Israel