The Israeli military confirmed on Friday afternoon that an Israeli soldier had been kidnapped during operations in the Gaza Strip. According to British broadcaster Channel 4 news,the soldier is from a British Jewish family, and is also a third cousin of Israel's defence minister, Moshe Ya'alon. Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, 23, from Kfar Saba,was captured by Palestinian fighters during a clash in the southern part of the territory, an Israeli military spokesman said. "We suspect that a group of Hamas terrorists, including a suicide attacker, kidnapped 2nd.Lt. Goldin at 9:30 am and dragged him into a tunnel," the army said on its official Twitter account. On Friday, clashes between Palestinian factions and Israel's military troops took place in Gaza despite the declaration of a 72-hour truce starting at 8am local time on Friday. Israeli artillery shells and airstrikes hit a number of sites in the strip, killing dozens. Plans for ceasefire talks between Israel and Palestinian groups in Cairo was also thrown into jeopardy as the truce collapsed, with several Palestinian leaders reporting that Israel had decided not to attend. A spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry however told Ahram Online that the talks were going ahead as planned. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/107527.aspx
