Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in response to calls for the stationing of an international force in Gaza, expressed his opposition to a UNIFIL 2, referring to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. According to European Union diplomats who met with the prime minister, Olmert conveyed his opposition to such a move, stating, “The situation in Gaza is so complicated you will curse me if I moved towards establishing an international force such as the one in Lebanon."
--The Hamas terrorist organization has set Israel's release of arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti as a condition for securing the freedom of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit. Barghouti, leader of the Tanzim terrorist organization, is responsible for the murders of numerous Israeli civilians. Hamas is also demanding the release of 1,400 Palestinian Authority prisoners being held in Israeli jails. The IDF hostage was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in a cross-border attack on an army outpost near the Gaza border in June.