A huge Israeli force of infantry backed by tanks continued to encircle Gaza Strip on Monday, a day after Palestinian fighters killed two Israeli troops and capture a third.
In a special session Sunday night, Israel's political-security cabinet unanimously agreed that the Israeli army is to start preparing for military steps aimed at securing the release of the soldier, Haaretz reported.
During the Sunday night cabinet meeting, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert declared "The age of restraint has come to an end... We will respond forcefully, with an operation that will last more than a day or two." The Israeli prime minister also said that Israel would not release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the soldier's freedom. On Monday, Olmert announced he had ordered commanders to prepare for a major offensive.
On Monday morning, however, it appeared that a ground operation was on hold, pending the outcome of an intensive international diplomatic contacts to secure the soldier's release.
A representative of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), which claimed Sunday's attack together with the Hamas military wing and the Army of Islam, said in a telephone call to AFP that it was holding the soldier. "He is alive and in good health," the representative of the group said on condition of anonymity. "He is not seriously injured." Later another spokesman for PRC denied these comments.
On his part, Palestinian government spokesman Ghazi Hamed, a Hamas official, expressed hope Monday that the case could be brought to a peaceful end. "We are holding contacts with many officials, with the Egyptians, with all the Palestinian elements," he told Israel's Army Radio. "We are continuing to deal with this matter, and I hope that we will reach a solution that will be good for us all."
