#Fear | Ellen Ginsberg Simon timesofisrael.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from timesofisrael.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The point here is
not that Israel never inflicts civilian casualties, including children, during their anti-terrorism operations and reprisals. They do, tragically, which is by design – Hamas design. Israeli forces go above and beyond typical military protocols to reduce collateral damage as much as possible. Their roof knocks, pamphleting, and phone calls to warn of impending attacks undoubtedly save innocent lives, even as they allow hardened jihadists to escape, too. But Hamas deliberately operates from within densely-packed neighborhoods. They store rockets inside schools. They plot terror from hospitals. And they accidentally misfire rockets that take out their own infrastructure and kill their own people inside Gaza.
The US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has departed for Turkey and the region, the US State Department said.
After a two-day meeting in Cairo, Palestinian factions agreed to an election timetable, and to “respect and accept” the results of the election. Palestinian parliamentary elections are scheduled for May 22, with a presidential vote set to be held on July 31.
In a joint statement issued by Fatah, Hamas and 12 other Palestinian factions, the parties promised to “abide by the timetable” of the elections, allow unrestricted campaigning and establish an “election court” to adjudicate any disputes.
The move by the Palestinians to hold elections this year comes just weeks after US President Joe Biden was sworn in. The Palestinians have pinned their hopes on a more friendly Biden administration after boycotting the Trump administration since December 2017, when Jerusalem was recognized Israel’s capital, with the US embassy moved there nearly six months