3:31pm IDF Spox notifications:

Hamas terrorists killed two IDF soldiers during the suspected kidnapping of 2nd Lt. Goldin this morning.

We suspect that a group of Hamas terrorists, including a suicide attacker, kidnapped 2nd. Lt. Goldin at 9:30AM & dragged him into a tunnel.

If our suspicions about today’s events are accurate, Hamas took advantage of the latest ceasefire in order to kidnap an IDF soldier.

3:15pm Released for Publication – 2 soldiers were killed this morning in battles with Hamas. Their families have been informed.

3:00pm The name of the kidnapped soldier has been released for publication by the IDF:

Hadar ben Hedva Leah

2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin (23), Givati, From Kfar Saba

2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin

2:21pm The IDF is continuing to stream forces to the area of the alleged kidnapping and has surrounded the entire area.

The IDF is continuing in full force to ascertain the safety of the soldier and his return….on both the operational and intelligence areas.

Why is Hamas Fighting Israel?

I have been racking my brains trying to understand what Hamas wants out of this war.

There is simply nothing they haven’t done to force Israel into it, and there isn’t anything they haven’t done to force it to continue, and to force it to continue inside Gaza.

They’ve gone so far as to destroy their own country and infrastructure simply to fight this war.

For what possible reason?

I thought at first it was about Palestinian elections. A good showing in a fight with Israel, would bring them victory over Fatah at the polls.

But they could have stopped a while ago, and they would have achieved that.

I thought perhaps they thought they deluded themselves into thinking they could actually destroy Israel. But they’ve certainly realized by now, as life continues on mostly normal in Israel, and mostly destroyed in Gaza, that they can’t destroy Israel.

So what’s left?

Instructions from Iran? To what? Self-destruct?

Recognition by the US? They clearly have that.

But I realized there’s only one common thread throughout this entire war.

It’s not the rockets and missiles.

That’s just the side show.

It’s not the tunnels themselves, as those are just facilitators.

It’s kidnappings.

Everything, and I mean everything Hamas has done has been about kidnapping soldiers and Jews.

They’ve funded Hamas in Hebron for the sole purpose of kidnapping Jews.

In every battle they’ve tried to kidnap dead IDF soldier’s bodies.

They keep bragging that they kidnapped soldiers, even when they haven’t.

Every tunnel has been about trying to kidnap soldiers or civilians.

It may be the after-effect and lessons they learned from the Gilad Shalit fiasco. Or it just may be their Islamo-sick psyche.

But they are willing to destroy themselves down to the last man and the last house, as long as they can grab a soldier or Jew.

That’s all that this war has been about. That’s why it hasn’t ended yet. Hamas needs a kidnapped soldier.

Postscript: 1:50pm For the past week, all I’ve been thinking about is what does Hamas want from us in this wae. It came to me this morning, that its only about kidnapping and nothing more. And if the reports coming out now are true, they may have succeeded. The question is, what will our Prime Minister do now, and I can only hope he chooses absolute victory over Hamas and Gaza.

All our prayers now are with our soldiers.

9:03pm Israel’s two chief Rabbis issued a joint proclamation/halachic ruling that IDF soldiers involved in combat in Gaza may not fast, or observe any of the mourning customs this coming Tisha B’av.

The 9th of Av fast day, which commemorates the destruction of the two Jewish temples in Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount.

Because they are in combat and fighting on behalf of the nation of Israel, they are fully exempt so that they can fight properly, with full strength and valor.http://www.jewishpress.com/wp-admin/edit.php

The residents of Gaza were not occupied by the Hamas; they voted for the terror organization in democratic elections, by a huge majority, by virtue of its uncompromising struggle against Israel.

For this reason, the separation between the armed Hamas terrorists and those ‘not involved’ or ‘innocents’ is false. The Gazans are now paying for the choices they have made.

It is enough for the IDF to make one announcement for residents to evacuate a given area, giving them reasonable time to get away.

Any other measure taken to protect the population against the results of its choices – at the expense of the IDF soldiers – is unethical.

Wounded IDF soldiers whose tefillin were destroyed in clashes with Hamas received a pleasant surprise in the hospital on Wednesday with a brand new set presented by Young Chabad, the Kikar Shabbat website reported.

Several troops told visitors in the hospital that they were without their tefillin, and the Lubavitch House in Paris responded quickly to help fulfill a request to replace them.

Members of Young Chabad visited the soldiers the same day with a visit and a gift of new tefillin.

One woman from Pisgat Ze’ev, in northern Jerusalem, said that her son, who suffered injuries that required the amputation of one leg, learned in Chabad while in Morocco.

“This is the most important gift for my son,” she said.

The IDF has released 6 additional names from the Golani 13, who were killed in Shejaiya on July 20.

As of now, 12 names have been released.

The newly released names are:

Sgt. Oren Simcha Noach, 22, from Hoshaya

Sgt. Ben Oanounou, 19, from Ashdod

Sgt. Sean Mondshein, 19, from Tel Aviv

Sgt. Daniel Pomerantz, 20, from Kfar Azar

Sgt. Shachar Taaseh, 20, from Pardasia

Sgt. Max Steinberg, 24, from Be’er Sheva (LA)

The previously released names are:

Major Tzafrir Bar-Or,32, from Holon

Captain Zvi Kaplan, 28, from Kedumim

Gilad Yaakovi, 21, from Kiryat Ono

Oz Mendelovitz, 21, from Avtalyon

Sean Carmeli, 21, from Raanana (Texas)

Moshe Malko, 20, from Jerusalem

One name still hasn’t been released, as the IDF has been unable to identify his body at this point. The IDF is still working to identify body parts.

It is believed that Hamas may have taken his body or parts of it, and the IDF does not believe the soldier could have survived the attack.

The family is being kept up to date.

Or Heller of Channel 10 reports that an IDF drone above the fight in Shejaiya saw Hamas trying to steal the dead bodies, but they did not succeed. Heller says, in most likelihood, the most Hamas has in its possession is a shoe or a dog tag.

HY”D

10:03am Multiple Rocket Alerts Tel Aviv… Givat Hashlosha… Kfar Sirkin… Petah Tikva… Or Yehuda.. Savyon… Ganey Tikva… Bnei Brak… Givat Shmuel… Givattayim… Ramat Gan…

Rocket Hits Yehud.

IDF intercepts 1 rocket over Tel Aviv.