Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Egypt's foreign minister accused Qatar, Turkey and Hamas on July 17 of conspiring to undermine Cairo's efforts to bring about a ceasefire between the Palestinian militant group and Israel in Gaza, Egypt's state news agency reported.

Israeli forces backed by tanks and warplanes July 18 pushed into the edges of Gaza in a major operation to destroy Hamas tunnels that the Palestinian Islamist group warned was doomed to fail.

Israeli forces backed by tanks and warplanes July 18 pushed into the edges of Gaza in a major operation to destroy Hamas tunnels that the Palestinian Islamist group warned was doomed to fail.

Israeli forces backed by tanks and warplanes July 18 pushed into the edges of Gaza in a major operation to destroy Hamas tunnels that the Palestinian Islamist group warned was doomed to fail.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 17 instructed the military to begin a ground offensive in Gaza, an official statement from his office said. 

Reuters witnesses and Gaza residents reported heavy artillery and naval shelling and helicopter fire along the Gaza border. 

Turkey and Qatar are forging a plan to produce a truce between Palestinian groups and Israel to end 10 days of violence in Gaza amid additional efforts from Cairo.

Meanwhile, an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his country and Hamas “have agreed on a cease-fire” that would begin on July 18, but Hamas denied the report.

Israeli prosecutors indicted three Jews on July 17 over the kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian teenager who was burned to death this month, the justice ministry said.

The identity of those charged was not disclosed by the ministry, which simply stated that one was a 29-year-old from the West Bank settlement of Adam.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has dismissed Israeli Foreign
Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s accusations that Turkey and Qatar attempted to “sabotage” the Gaza cease-fire proposal drafted in Egypt.

“I have never taken the Israeli foreign minister [Lieberman] seriously,” Davutoğlu said on July 17 in a televised interview.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has accused Turkey and Qatar of sabotaging the Gaza cease-fire proposal drafted by Egypt.

The four cousins, children of Gaza fishermen, were playing hide and seek at the beach despite their parents' warnings.