Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday the Palestinian militant group Hamas had violated its own offer of a 24-hour humanitarian truce in Gaza, according to Reuters.
Asked whether Israel would accept the truce offer, Netanyahu told CNN's "State of the Union" program: "Hamas doesn't even accept its own cease-fire, it's continuing to fire at us as we speak," Reuters reported. Netanyahu added that Israel "will take whatever action is necessary to protect our people."
Hamas said it had offered a 24-hour "humanitarian calm" period that had been due to start at 2 p.m. local time on Sunday, but as 2 p.m. came and went, the sound of heavy Israeli shelling could be heard within Gaza and sirens sounded in Israeli communities near the border area, suggesting Palestinian militants had fired missiles at them, according to Reuters.
Some 1,060 Palestinians, mainly civilians and including many children, have been killed in the 20-day conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, Reuters reported. Israel says 43 of its soldiers have died, along with three civilians.
In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Netanyahu said Hamas had broken five cease-fires that Israel had accepted and implemented, according to Reuters. "They rejected all of them, violated all of them, including two humanitarian cease-fires in the last 24 hours," Netanyahu said.
He told NBC's "Meet the Press" program that going forward a peace initiative being brokered by the Egyptian government "is the only game in town," Reuters reported. He added that Israel's goal was the "demilitarization of Gaza."
Israeli artillery guns also fired barrages into the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported, although the objects of the fire was initially unclear, according to Reuters.
Nonetheless, Gaza Strip residents and Reuters witnesses said Israeli shelling and Hamas missile launches had slowly subsided through the afternoon, suggesting a de facto truce might be taking shape as international efforts to broker a permanent ceasefire appeared to flounder, Reuters reported.
