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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, July 17, 2014
‘Hamas nixed truce so it could take hostages first,’ IDF says
IDF sources believe Hamas rejected the Egyptian ceasefire offer on Tuesday because it did not want the fighting to end before it had a chance to carry out the massive terror attack planned for Thursday morning.
According to the sources quoted by Army Radio, the operation Thursday, which saw 13 Hamas fighters infiltrate into Israel near Kibbutz Sufa, was intended to kidnap Israeli civilians or soldiers. The Hamas fighters were equipped with equipment to aid in such an abduction.
Hamas believes that any ceasefire negotiation would be conducted much more in its favor if it had Israeli hostages in its possession, the IDF says.
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