The army will continue working to destroy tunnels used by Gaza militants
for cross-border attacks with or without a ceasefire, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday at the start of a cabinet
meeting. Duration: 00:58
The Israeli army on Saturday gave a first indication it was ending operations in parts of Gaza, while continuing to bombard other areas ahead of fresh truce talks in Cairo.
As a Palestinian delegation flew to Egypt in search of a ceasefire, the Israeli army messaged residents of part of northern Gaza that it was "safe" to return home.
See more news and photos after the cuts.......
Palestinians inspect the wreckage of a building which was hit in an Israeli strike on the southern gaza town of Rafah, on August 2, 2014 (AFP Photo/Said Khatib)
"They have been informed it is safe for civilians to return to Beit Lahiya and Al-Atatra," a spokeswoman told AFP, in what was understood to be a confirmation that troops had stopped operating there.
Witnesses in the north confirmed seeing troops leaving the area as others were seen leaving another flashpoint area in southern Gaza.
Malaysian activists hold placards during a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur on August 2, 2014, calling for an end to Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip (AFP Photo/Manan Vatsyayana)
It was the first time troops had been seen pulling back since the start of Israel's devastating 26-day operation, which has so far claimed more than 1,660 Palestinian lives and displaced up to a quarter of the territory's population.
The move came after an army spokesman told AFP Israel was "quite close to completing" the destruction of tunnels used for infiltrating southern Israel -- the main objective of the ground operation.
Despite the partial withdrawal, Israel's security cabinet decided against sending a delegation to ceasefire talks with the Palestinians in Cairo, media reports said.
Displaced Palestinians take shelter at a school in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on August 2, 2014 (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)
"Hamas has proven that it breaches any agreement reached right away, as happened five times in previous truces," deputy foreign minister Tzahi HaNegbi told AFP, without confirming the report.
"It is therefore unclear at this stage what benefit Israel might see for participating in an attempt to reach agreements, based on the Egyptian initiative," he said, as media reports suggested the pullback could signal the start of a unilateral withdrawal.
Palestinians inspect the wreckage of a building following an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, on August 2, 2014 (AFP Photo/Said Khatib)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to give an address at 1800 GMT at which he was expected to address the mission to destroy the tunnels, officials said.
- Truce deal unlikely -
Chances of achieving a more permanent ceasefire nosedived on Friday after Israel said it believed Hamas militants had captured a 23-year-old soldier in a Friday morning ambush near the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves after attending a news conference in Tel Aviv July 28, 2014. Palestinian fighters slipped into an Israeli village from the Gaza Strip and fought a gun battle with troops on Monday as an unofficial truce called for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival disintegrated. The incident was not the only breach of the fragile truce. Eight children and two adults were killed by a blast at a park in northern Gaza and four Israelis were reported to have been killed by cross-border Palestinian mortar fire. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY)
Immediately afterwards, Israel bombarded the Rafah area in shelling that is still ongoing, with medics saying it killed 114 people in 24 hours.
Since midnight (2100 GMT), more than 86 people have been killed, the vast majority in Rafah, raising the overall toll to 1,676, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, putting the number of wounded at more than 9,000.
The grandparents of Israeli soldier Guy Algranati mourn during his funeral in Tel Aviv July 31, 2014. Algranati was killed on Wednesday by a booby trap detonated as he and 2 other soldiers uncovered a tunnel shaft, the army said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing international alarm over a rising civilian death toll in Gaza, said on Thursday he would not accept any ceasefire that stopped Israel completing the destruction of militants' infiltration tunnels. Gaza officials say at least 1,394 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the battered territory and nearly 7,000 wounded. Fifty-six Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza clashes and more than 400 wounded. Three civilians have been killed by Palestinian shelling in Israel. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS OBITUARY CONFLICT)
The alleged capture of Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin drew sharp condemnation from the United Nations and the White House, which jointly brokered the abortive 72-hour truce and demanded his immediate release.
Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, acknowledged its militants had staged an ambush early Friday in which soldiers were killed, but denied holding the soldier, saying the attackers were missing and presumed dead.
Israeli soldiers carry the flag-draped coffin of their comrade Guy Algranati during his funeral in Tel Aviv July 31, 2014.
"We have lost contact with the mujahedeen unit that was in that ambush, and we think that all the fighters in this unit were killed by Zionist shelling along with the soldier, who the enemy says is missing, assuming our combatants captured this soldier during the fighting," it said,
A relative of Palestinians, whom medics said were killed in an Israeli air strike on their van, grieves at a hospital in Gaza City July 31, 2014.
"Until now, we in Qassam have no knowledge of the missing soldier, or his whereabouts or the circumstances of his disappearance."
- Hunt goes on -
An Israeli soldier holds a machine gun on an Israeli Navy vessel in the Mediterranean sea
Israel considers the capture of its soldiers a casus belli, launching a 34-day war on the Lebanon's Hezbollah in 2006 after it seized two soldiers.
Around the same time, Gaza militants captured conscript Gilad Shalit and held him for five years before freeing him in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
A general view of destruction in the Shejaia neighbourhood in the east of Gaza City
Goldin's family also made their own emotional appeal on Saturday evening in an address to the Israeli leadership.
"I demand that the state of Israel not leave Gaza without bringing my child back home to me," said his mother Hedva, her voice breaking.
Eyal (L) and Danit (2nd L), the father and mother of Israeli soldier Guy Algranati, and his sisters mourn during his funeral in Tel Aviv July 31, 2014.
"I cannot imagine that the army would abandon one of its fighters," said her husband Simcha outside their home in Kfar Saba near Tel Aviv.
An Israeli army video appears to show a tunnel that Israel says was to be used by Gaza militants to launch attacks. Rough Cut. (No Reporter Narration)
Meanwhile, air strikes and tank fire continued pounding huge areas of southern Gaza into rubble, killing scores more people on Saturday, as militants kept up their cross-border fire, with 56 rockets hitting Israel and another six downed, including two over greater Tel Aviv.
Palestinians stand by the rubble of the home of Hamas Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh, which Gaza's interior ministry said was hit by a missile fired by Israeli aircraft before dawn on Tuesday, causing damage but no casualties, in Gaza City July 29, 2014.
With a 12-member Palestinian delegation due to arrive for truce talks in Cairo on Saturday evening, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his country's truce proposal offered a "real chance to find a solution to the crisis" but that it must be implemented quickly to stop the bloodshed.
Protesters hold up signs during a demonstration to support Israeli, in Zurich July 31, 2014.
Among the delegation was senior Ramallah official Azzam al-Ahmad, Palestinian intelligence chief Majid Faraj, senior Hamas official Mussa Abu Marzuq, and Ziad al-Nakhale, a leader of Islamic Jihad.
Speaking to AFP, a senior Palestinian official told AFP that Israel was not expected to attend the Cairo talks and that US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns would also not be flying to Cairo, as announced.
In his place, Washington was to send Frank Lowenstein, the acting US envoy for the Middle East peace process, a State department official said.
jews are evils no no no evil is alot more better then them. The isreali are the greatest terror on earth. Hitler made a big mistake by leaving so many of them on earth and that is why the world has to suffer. However if hitler wipe them all there would not be any of them left to harrass and steal arabs lands. Long live carlos and my the lord bless abu nidal
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