Israel resumed air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after agreeing to an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire deal that failed to get Hamas militants to halt rocket attacks, according to The Associated Press.
Under a blueprint announced by Egypt, Gaza's neighbour and whose military-backed government has been at odds with Islamist Hamas, a mutual "de-escalation" was to have begun at 9 a.m., with hostilities ceasing within 12 hours, the AP reported.
Hamas' armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, rejected the ceasefire deal, a proposal that addressed in only general terms some of its key demands, and said its battle with Israel would "increase in ferocity and intensity," according to the AP.
Six hours after implementation of the truce was to have begun, and citing the persistent salvoes, Israel resumed attacks in Gaza, the AP reported. The military said it targeted at least 20 of Hamas's hidden rocket launchers, tunnels and weapons storage facilities.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas political official who was in Cairo, said the movement, which is seeking a deal that would ease the Egyptian and Israeli border restrictions throttling Gaza's economy, had made no final decision on Cairo's proposal, the AP reported.
The Israeli military said that since the ceasefire deal was to have gone into effect, Hamas had fired 123 rockets at Israel, one killing a civilian, the first Israeli fatality in the fighting, according to the AP.
A Palestinian civilian was killed in an air strike in Khan Younis, raising the death toll in the Gaza Strip in eight days of fighting to 188, including at least 150 civilians, among them 31 children, according to Gaza medical officials, the AP reported.
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted 20 of the Hamas projectiles, including two over the Tel Aviv area, and the rest caused no damage or casualties, according to the AP.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack against Israel's commercial capital, which has been targeted frequently since the war began, as well as for the rocket that killed the Israeli man along the border, the AP reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in broadcast remarks late on Tuesday that Israel had no choice but to "expand and intensify" its campaign on Hamas, though he did not specifically mention the possibility of a ground incursion," according to the AP.
