Israel Says Ground Troops Out of Gaza as Cease-Fire Takes Effect

Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

By Fox News.

The Israeli military has said that all of its ground forces have been removed from Gaza as a 72-hour cease-fire went into effect Tuesday.

The truce, agreed upon Monday by Israel and Hamas, took effect at 8 a.m. local time Tuesday (1 a.m. Eastern Time). The Times of Israel reported that a barrage of rockets were fired from Gaza minutes before the cease-fire was due to take effect. The paper also reported that Israeli’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted two rockets over central Israel, while two other rockets fell into open areas in southern Israel near the Gaza border, causing no damage or injuries.

There were also signs of tensions created by the Gaza fighting spreading to Jerusalem and the West Bank, including two attacks police say were carried out by Palestinian militants.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told The Associated Press that the withdrawal would go forward after forces completed the destruction of the last of the 32 known tunnels used by Hamas militants to cross between Gaza and Israel to carry out attacks on soldiers and civilians.

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Why Jon Voight is speaking out on Gaza and Hollywood activism

By Max Schindler.

Hollywood celebrities on both sides of the political aisle are alternately supporting – and condemning – Israel’s month-long military operation in the Gaza Strip as the death toll climbs to more than 1,700 Palestinian and 67 Israeli casualties.

Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight is the latest to jump into the verbal fray. But the Middle East conflict has already heard from movie actors, radio jockeys, musicians and music producers. If there were a scorecard, it would be tilted toward public sympathy with the Palestinians.

Last week, Spanish actors Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, along with Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, denounced Israel’s aerial campaign in an open letter to a Spanish newspaper, calling for the European Union “to condemn the bombing by land, sea and air against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” adding:

“Gaza is living through horror these days, besieged and attacked by land, sea and air. Palestinians’ homes are being destroyed, they are being denied water, electricity [and] free movement to their hospitals, schools and fields while the international community does nothing.”

Their letter was “one of the most strident messages from any global cultural figure regarding the current conflict,” reported The Guardian, and their comments provoked a fierce backlash from a number of other celebrities.

Read more from this story HERE.