JERUSALEM - A newly reached cease-fire in the Gaza conflict quickly collapsed Friday as the Israeli military announced that two soldiers had been killed and a third apparently captured by Palestinian militants who emerged from a tunnel near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Gaza health officials said 35 Palestinians had been killed and more than 100 wounded as Israeli forces bombarded the area. Palestinian witnesses said by telephone that Israeli tank shells had hit eastern Rafah as residents returned to inspect homes they had evacuated.
Each side accused the other of violating the 72-hour truce, which disintegrated in less than two hours.
Hamas, the dominant militant group in Gaza, said in a statement that Israel’s announcement about the capture of an Israeli soldier was intended “to cover up the barbaric massacres, especially in Rafah.”
Hamas did not claim responsibility for seizing the soldier, adding another layer of confusion. Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, issued an ambiguous statement several hours after the event denying that it had violated the ceasefire and saying that Israeli troops had advanced into eastern Rafah well before the cease-fire’s 8 a.m. start. It made no mention of a soldier’s capture.
“Due to this Zionist invasion, our holy fighters clashed with the forces and killed a large number at 7 a.m.,” the statement said. It added, “We emphasize that any Zionist forces violating our liberated land would be subject to our holy fighters’ fire and a legitimate target.”
Israel’s military vehemently denied Hamas’s account of the timing of the clash, saying it began 90 minutes after the cease-fire took hold.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said government forces had been moving to destroy a tunnel, as the terms of the cease-fire allowed for, when several militants came out of the ground.
Lerner said the militants included at least one suicide attacker. There was an exchange of fire, he said, and initial indications were that a soldier was dragged back into the tunnel. Lerner was unable to offer details about the soldier’s condition.
“The cease-fire is over,” he said, adding that the military was carrying out “extensive operations on the ground” to try to locate the missing soldier.
The Israeli military identified the missing soldier as 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old officer in an infantry brigade.
