The IDF has reportedly stabilized its lines and is now focusing on mapping out and destroying the terror tunnels they have uncovered.

So far, 31 tunnels have been uncovered and nine have been destroyed. IDF-Hamas fighting in Gaza remains intensive, as Hamas is still trying to carry out attacks in Israel through tunnels. A major tunnel was uncovered yesterday, contained maps, IDF uniforms and weaponry for an imminent attack. In one incident, a Combat Engineers unit spotted terrorists emerging from a tunnel. They called in air support and the cell was hit.

Over the past 24 hours IDF ground forces have arrested 150 terrorist in the Gaza Strip, including one dressed in an IDF uniform. Over 200 terrorists were killed since the beginning of the ground operation. Overnight, the IDF attacked 35 terror targets, bringing the total to some 3,400 terror objective targeted by the IDF.

Lt. Paz Elyahu, 22, Staff Sgt. Li Mat, 19 and Staff Sgt. Shahar Dauber, 20, all paratroopers, were killed yesterday on the battlefield by an explosive device. 32 soldiers have fallen during Operation ‘Protective Edge’.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and US Secretary of State John Kerry are continuing their shuttle diplomacy, but to no apparent avail. Reports indicate they have not been able to contact Hamas in any fashion; not through Egypt or PA Head Abbas.

The IDF is interested in continuing to destroy as much as Hamas’ terror infrastructure as they can, and as PM Netanyahu pointed out to Secretary Ki-Moon: “We accepted the Egyptian ceasefire proposal. I don’t need to remind you it was a proposal that was supported by the UN, by the Arab League, by the United States, by Europe. Hamas rejected it. We accepted the humanitarian ceasefire proposal that the UN proposed afterward. Hamas rejected that. We accepted the ceasefire proposal of the Red Cross in Shejaia. Hamas rejected that, twice.” Hamas, however, seems to be bent on total destruction of the Gaza Strip. Presenting ridiculous demands as a prerequisite to a cease fire, such as Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal’s rejection of a ceasefire unless the blockade of Gaza is lifted, Hamas shows no interest in relenting. With the realization that their rockets have been rendered ineffective because of the Iron Dome systems, and that they have lost their strategic weapon, the terror tunnels, it seems they have adopted an ‘I’ve-got-nothing-to-lose’ approach to the fighting.

98 rockets were fired at Israel yesterday, 25 were intercepted by Iron Dome. A foreign worker was killed by a rocket yesterday while he was working in a field. With this, the IDF announced yesterday that they have destroyed 30-40% of Hamas’ rockets since the starting of the operation. In total, 2270 rockets were launched toward Israel since the beginning of the operation. The Iron Dome has destroyed 448 of them.

UNHRC Commissioner Navi Pillay condemned Israel this week for its military activity in Gaza and called for an investigation into what she called the IDF’s possible “war crimes” in the terrorist-ruled region.

She had no problem cutting slack to Hamas for all of its terror, not the least of which includes the vicious attacks on its own people, and the use of its children, hospitals, sick patients, doctors and even its helpless animals as human shields.

Here’s the text of her statement, which was recorded in full by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

“As we speak, the indiscriminate firing of Hamas and other armed groups of more than 2,900 rockets as well as mortars from Gaza continues to endanger the lives of civilians in Israel. I have repeatedly condemned such indiscriminate attacks in the past. I do so again today.

“I further emphasize that it is unacceptable to locate military assets in densely populated areas or to launch attacks from such areas.

“However, international law is clear. The actions of one party do not absolve the other party of the need to respect its obligations under international law.

“My staff are continuing to document several other cases in which family residences were destroyed with the reported loss of civilian life and in which preliminary indications suggest not even a single member of an armed group was present.

“Then just two days ago on 21 July, shells hit the Al Aqsa Hospital in Dir Al Bala reportedly killing at least three people and wounding dozens of others including doctors.

“These are just a few instances where there seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated in a manner that could amount to war crimes.

“Every one of these incidents must be properly and independently investigated.”

Madame Pillay was selective in her condemnation, choosing not to mention the terrorist attacks on Israeli communities in sovereign Israeli territory.

She did not mention the incessant shelling of Israeli villages, towns and cities, the Israeli homes damaged, and the Jewish, Bedouin and Druze families that have been traumatized for life. In Israel, there is no exclusivity on trauma; Shuafat resident Muhhamad Abu Khdeira, a Jerusalem Muslim Arab teen murdered in a revenge attack by Jews a few weeks ago, was also officially designated a victim of terror. His family will receive the same state benefits as any other Israeli family.

Madame Pillay did not mention the dozens of ‘family residences destroyed’ in Israel thanks to Hamas rocket fire, all without ‘even a single member of an armed group present.’

No mention of the cross-border invasions by Hamas terrorists into Israeli territory, all the attempts to kidnap and murder Israeli citizens. In one case, the terrorists succeeded and now three Israeli teens are dead.

Nor did she mention that unprovoked attack, which took place last month.

Madame Pillay did not mention the thousands of flyers dropped by the IDF days in advance warning Gaza residents to leave the areas they plan to attack, the phone calls to their homes and the SMS text messages, all in Arabic, all of which also warns the enemy as well – all in order to prevent civilian deaths.

Oddly – perhaps she was embarrassed about it, who knows – Madame Pillay also did not mention that UNRWA – the United Nations’ own Relief and Works Agency, has been caught twice during routine inspections with two of its own schools in Gaza being used as storage facilities for terrorist missiles. The most recent occurrence was, in fact, Tuesday 22 July – the very day she quoted as the offensive date of Israel’s supposed ‘war crimes.’

(Jerusalem) Over 30,000 people paid their respects to lone soldier, Sgt. Max Steinberg at his funeral on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, yesterday morning.

Steinberg was killed battling Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, July 20 and was among the 13 IDF soldiers who were killed when a Hamas anti-tank rocket struck their armored vehicle.

Steinberg, like the 2,700 lone soldiers who have come from abroad and are currently serving in the IDF, had no family in Israel. The Los Angeles native first came to Israel in 2012 on a Birthright Israel trip and joined the IDF’s elite Golani brigade six months later.

Because he was a lone soldier, Steinberg was assisted by the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center, an organization whose mission is to help lone soldiers during their IDF service.

Josh Flaster, the National Director of the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center, who knew Steinberg, told Tazpit News Agency that it has been a very difficult time for the center, which serves as a warm-knit community for IDF soldiers alone in Israel.

“The Center in this kind of situation is working around the clock, getting our lone soldiers the assistance they need in such times – everything from clean socks, underwear and food to words of encouragement to lone soldiers right before they head out to Gaza.”

“Some of our lone soldiers have lost their best friends on the battlefield during this war; some have been wounded. We have over 250 volunteers, most of who were former lone soldiers themselves and have fought in battles, who are talking to the soldiers and helping in any way they can,” said Flaster.

“For example, wounded soldiers carried off the field, do not have their phones or wallets with them. We go down the hospitals and give these lone soldiers pocket money and anything else they need, because their families aren’t here to do that for them.”

The center also makes sure that proper respect is paid to the lone soldiers who have been killed in battle, organizing busses to funerals and sending volunteers to the mourning families coming from abroad.

On Monday, June 21, over 20,000 mourners gathered together in Haifa for the funeral of Sean Carmeli, a lone soldier from Texas who was also killed in Sunday’s fighting, alongside Steinberg.

Former lone soldier, Benji Davis, who made aliyah from Los Angeles attended Max Steinberg’s funeral today and spoke of the brotherhood that is felt among the lone soldiers serving in the IDF and their unique unity with the Jewish world. “Max’s passing reminds us that the IDF is not just the Israel Defense Forces, but it is the army for all the Jewish people, an army that defends Jews from all over the world,” Davis told Tazpit.

“I didn’t know Max personally but I realized today what it means to be fully Israeli. As someone said at the funeral – to be Israeli is to cry for someone that you never knew and who feels like your family. That is exactly how I felt today.”

“It was incredible to see tens of thousands of others feel that way too,” added Davis.

Hamas terrorists fired mortar rounds Wednesday at an IDF field hospital on the Israeli side of the Gaza border, according to a report on Israel Radio. The Israeli army set up the hospital last week to treat Palestinian victims of Hamas’ “human shields” policy, but the report indicated that the terror gang has prevented wounded Palestinians from seeking treatment there.

There is much I can write you about what is going here, but I am wondering what I should not write.

I will start by imagining that I am you, sitting at home in the Los Angeles area and flipping back and forth between the weather, traffic reports, the Ukraine, Mexican illegals and Gaza.

No matter what is reported in the United States about the war, the pictures inevitably are those of bloodied Gaza children who were killed by IDF forces today.

For the first time in the past two decades of conflicts with Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and Hezbollah, Israel has found itself in a live or die situation in which Hamas, like Hezbollah eight years ago, uses civilians as human shields, a war crime.

Any other country would have finished this war in a day by carpet bombing terror-infested areas, no matter the cost of lives. A couple of thousands of innocent people would have been killed, Israel would be condemned left and right, but by sheer might, the IDF would have been able to continue to take over the rest of Gaza. The Arabs there would know they would meet the same fate as the first 2,000 if they cooperated with Hamas and allowed themselves to be exploited.

Unlike many others, I am happy the world judges Israel by the double standard because in order to be a Light Unto Nations, we really have to stick to our own standard.

That is why the IDF did not carpet bomb Gaza today. It also cannot continue to allow Hamas to threaten our existence by committing the war crime of using civilians as human shields. Those civilians killed today were innocent victims. I will not get into the argument if they were victims of the IDF and Hamas. I know the answer, and everyone can come up with his own conclusion.

I will say that whatever news you read, it is not complete.

Back in 1981 or 1982, I was a senior copy editor for one of Canada’s largest newspapers. That is a fancy title for five people who sit at a desk, rip off wire copy and decide what you will read and what you will not read.

At that time, I was totally out of touch with family. I had rejected Judaism for journalism and certainly had no connection with Israel. I never did. I never was a Zionist. I refused to look at pictures from Israel when my parents, may their memory be for a blessing, came back from their first trip here in 1960. My reason was that the country is not a religious state. At that time, at the age of 16, I was very, very observant.

So with that background, with no knowledge of Israel and not a care about the country, I read the wire copy that reported about the war in Lebanon. Every day, I read about the IDF “invading” and bombing Lebanon, and somewhere later in the articles, I read that Hezbollah had fired rockets on the Galilee.

This went on day after day. I read between the lines and told myself that something did not make sense. That is when I gave up journalism and set in motion my eventual return to Judaism. The spark of being a Jew never is extinguished.

I walked into the office one day and announced I was quitting the highest paying job I ever had and ever will have in my life. I didn’t even think of explaining why. No one would have understood.

There is in inherent bias in foreign media that Israel is wrong. “Objective” news reports are reported with the assumption that something is not right with Israel. That is true in the spiritual sense. Israel still is not what people want it to be.

The UN confirmed to the IDF Wednesday that the Al Wafa hospital used by Hamas as a base for terror and bombed by the Israeli Air Force Wednesday had been evacuated of patients before the Israeli Air Force bombed it, as reported by The Jewish Press here earlier today.

“The Al-Wafa hospital housed a Hamas command and control center and was utilized to direct and supervise the ongoing battles in the area. Among the hospital grounds, there was a lookout post, used to gather intelligence and monitor IDF forces activities in order to carry out attacks, and there were several access shafts to​ ​the Hamas tunnel network from within the hospital,” IDF spokesmen said.

The hospital was evacuated from patients and staff and continued to be occupied by Hamas gunmen who continued to fire at the IDF forces.

“The head of the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration with Gaza confirmed with the head of the WHO (World Health Organization) in Gaza that he has informed the hospital manager three times, that the premises should be vacated,” the IDF statement said. “The head of the WHO stated that the hospital manager declared there were no patients or staff in the hospital, and that the building is empty. This was confirmed by the Gaza CLA” on Wednesday.

The footage below shows secondary explosions, indicating an extensive amount of weaponry was stored.

Hamas told foreign media that civilians were killed in the bombing raid.

The IDF confirmed Wednesday night that three paratrooper combat soldiers and officers were killed in the morning when Hamas terrorists set off remote-controlled explosives in a house that was being searched in Khan Yunis, near the ruins of destroyed Gush Katif communities in central Gaza.

Fifteen other soldiers were wounded, and three of them are in serious condition.

The death toll of IDF soldiers and officers since the beginning of the Protective Edge campaign now is 30, and hopefully that will be the final number.