News / International
Gaza truce collapses as violence resumes
20 Aug 2014 at 07:08hrs | Views
Smoke billows after an Israeli air strike in Rafah on Tuesday [AFP]
A week-long truce in Gaza has collapsed in tatters after Palestinian fighters launched rockets into Israel and Israel attacked "terror sites" inside the enclave.
The Israeli military launched attacks on at least 10 sites in Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least three people, and recalled its team working on a permanent ceasefire with Palestinians in Cairo after three rockets landed in Israel.
"In response to Hamas's violation of the truce, the prime minister and defence minister have ordered the IDF [Israeli army] to once more attack terror sites in the Gaza Strip," a government official said.
The Gaza health ministry reported that a young child and a woman were killed and 16 injured in an air raid in Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City. An attack on the airport area near Rafah had injured two children.
The Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, later said on Twitter that it had fired rockets towards Tel Aviv - confirmation that Hamas was involved in the latest violence. No one was injured in the attack on the city, the Israeli army said.
The violence apparently spells the end of efforts in Cairo to secure a permanent ceasefire to end the war in Gaza, in which more than 2,000 people have died. Most of the dead were Palestinian civilians.
The Palestinian rocket fire broke a temporary truce valid until midnight local time (9pm GMT on Tuesday).
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from West Jerusalem, said: "This is the first time that rockets have been fired since late Wednesday, and they came in the hours approaching the latest deadline for the ceasefire negotiations."
"Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had warned any fire would be met by, in his words, 'a very aggressive response," she added.
The Israeli military launched attacks on at least 10 sites in Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least three people, and recalled its team working on a permanent ceasefire with Palestinians in Cairo after three rockets landed in Israel.
"In response to Hamas's violation of the truce, the prime minister and defence minister have ordered the IDF [Israeli army] to once more attack terror sites in the Gaza Strip," a government official said.
The Gaza health ministry reported that a young child and a woman were killed and 16 injured in an air raid in Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City. An attack on the airport area near Rafah had injured two children.
The violence apparently spells the end of efforts in Cairo to secure a permanent ceasefire to end the war in Gaza, in which more than 2,000 people have died. Most of the dead were Palestinian civilians.
The Palestinian rocket fire broke a temporary truce valid until midnight local time (9pm GMT on Tuesday).
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from West Jerusalem, said: "This is the first time that rockets have been fired since late Wednesday, and they came in the hours approaching the latest deadline for the ceasefire negotiations."
"Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had warned any fire would be met by, in his words, 'a very aggressive response," she added.
Source - Al Jazeera
