Israel Resumes Airstrikes After Hamas’ Armed Wing Rejects Truce

After a halt Tuesday morning, Israel resumed its attack on Gaza later in the day when the armed wing of Hamas, the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades, refused an Egyptian truce proposal the Israeli government had accepted, calling it a “surrender.” The proclaimed cease-fire between the two sides lasted a mere six hours, but a Hamas spokesman said the group had never been fully informed about the agreement offered.

BBC News:

Palestinian officials say at least 192 people have been killed by Israeli air strikes launched eight days ago to stop militants firing rockets into Israel. At least four Israelis have been seriously injured since the violence flared, but none have been killed.

The Israel Defense Forces said about 50 rockets had been fired into Israel during the six hours it had halted air strikes on Tuesday…Under the terms of the Egyptian initiative, the ceasefire should have been followed by a series of meetings in Cairo with high-level delegations from the two sides.

There has been no definitive response to the initiative from Hamas…Senior Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan told the BBC it had only heard about the truce initiative through the media and that a ceasefire could not be put in place without the details of any agreement being known.

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—Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata