Despite announcements of a ceasefire scheduled to begin on Thursday morning, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee on Tuesday that the announced lull in fighting notwithstanding, the military will continue preparation for a major Gaza operation.

A senior IDF commander attending the session along with Ashkenazi added such an agreement will be “fragile” and “temporary” at best, stating with a modicum of confidence that Israel is on a collision course in Gaza.

Despite contradictory information and misinformation being circulated by PA and other Arab media, what appears to be the case is the truce, hudna or whatever one calls the lull in fighting does not make mention of Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier taken captive by Hamas in a 2006 across-the-border attack in Kerem Shalom.

On 25 June, Shalit will mark two years in Hamas captivity. Hamas leaders have stated that Shalit will only be released when Israel releases terrorists from prison as per the Hamas list given to negotiators.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)