Islamic world enters Eid with mounting Gaza toll

Eid al-Fitr is beginning in the Gaza Strip, but residents are from a celebratory mood amid a mounting death toll exceeding 1,050 and a slim chance of a durable cease-fire with Israel Eid al-Fitr is beginning in the Gaza Strip, but residents are from a celebratory mood amid a mounting death toll exceeding 1,050 and a slim chance of a durable cease-fire with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday dismissed the latest cease-fire proposal to end the assault on Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating a truce that it had itself called and vowed that operations would continue.

On July 26, Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoğlu met with his counterparts in Paris to discuss a possible truce, but it failed to produce any tangible result as protest against Israeli strikes continue in world capitals. Davutoğlu has claimed a sustainable cease-fire is impossible to achieve as long as the reality of Hamas is ignored at the negotiating table.     

“Disregarding Hamas, excluding them from peace processes, ignoring the will of the people of Gaza and looking upon the cease-fire negotiations as a process between Israel and Egypt are the primary reasons why the truce has arrived late,” Davutoğlu told the state-run TRT television channel late July 26.

Netanyahu said Hamas was violating its own cease-fire. “Under these circumstances, Israel will do what it must do to defend its people,” Netanyahu told CNN.

Earlier, Hamas agreed to halt firing from 2 p.m. in response to a request from the United Nations. However, as 2 p.m. came and went, the sound of heavy Israeli shelling could be heard within Gaza and sirens sounded in Israeli communities near the border area, suggesting...