Deadly Israeli Airstrikes Continue After Cease-fire Plan Fades
“Israel Resumes Gaza Airstrikes After Hamas Refuses Cease-fire Terms”
Israel continued airstrikes Wednesday in the Gaza Strip, a day after accepting a cease-fire plan and pausing its campaign, only to resume when the militant group Hamas rejected the pact.
The airstrikes early Wednesday killed at least three people in the Palestinian territory. About 200 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military began an operation to end Hamas rocket attacks last week.
One Israeli has died.
Ahead of the attacks, the Israeli military warned residents in northern Gaza that “being near Hamas is not safe,” saying the message was an “effort to minimize civilian casualties.”
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was due to travel to Egypt on Wednesday to meet with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to discuss how to successfully implement the Egyptian-proposed cease-fire that failed to go into effect on Tuesday.
The Fattah movement, led by Abbas, joined Hamas in a Palestinian unity government last month, bringing together the entities that had separately governed the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel’s military held fire for six hours after agreeing to the cease-fire proposal, but resumed after Gaza militants fired about 50 rockets at Israel. In all, the military said, 155 rockets were fired from Gaza on Tuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he would have preferred to solve the conflict “diplomatically,” but actions by Hamas leave “no choice but to expand and intensify the campaign against it.”
White House spokesman Josh Earnest expressed concern about any civilians who are killed or injured, and said the U.S. believes “far too many innocent civilians” have died because of violence in the region. He stressed that rocket fire launched from Hamas and other groups “needs to stop.” (VOA)