- Hamas spokesman said truce went into effect at 2pm local time (noon UK time) today ahead of the end of Ramadan
- But Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu accused Hamas of violating it and said he will 'take action to protect our people'
- Ceasefire would have been second in two days after Israel responded to rocket fire during previous lull with air strikes
- As 2pm came and went, journalists and residents could still hear shelling in Gaza and rocket sirens in Israel
- Yesterday scores of bodies were pulled from the rubble in Gaza City raising overall Palestinian death toll to 1,060
Israel and
Hamas launched new attacks Sunday in the raging Gaza war, despite each
side offering different truces to temporarily halt nearly three weeks of
fighting ahead of a major Muslim holiday.
After
initially rejecting an Israeli offer Saturday for a 24-hour truce,
Hamas said Sunday it agreed to hold fire ahead of the Eid al-Fitr
holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
But
as Israel's Cabinet met to discuss the offer and the ongoing war,
rockets rained down on southern Israel and Israeli strikes could be
heard in Gaza.
Each side blamed the other for scuttling the efforts.
Wrath: Smoke from Israeli strikes rises over
Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip today. An agreed ceasefire lies in
ruins today, with attacks from both sides
Discord: Each side blamed the other for scuttling the efforts to broker a ceasefire
Carnage: Smoke rises over Gaza City
today after Israel's Prime Minister accused Hamas of violating its own
attempt at a second truce in the conflict
Attacks: Strikes on Gaza reportedly continued after Hamas said it wanted
a truce today. Israel said the Palestinian group had rejected its own
pleas by firing rockets
Artillery: Tanks fire shells towards
Gaza near the border with Israel. Netanyahu claimed Hamas did not care
for ceasefires and 'rejected all of them, violated all of them'
Turmoil: Relatives and friends mourn
near the body of Hazem Abu Shamalah, who was killed in shelling after
the Israeli military resumed its assault on Gaza
Injuries: Palestinians are prepared to
be moved by ambulance from a hospital in north Sinai to Cairo after
they crossed the border between Gaza and Egypt yesterday
Palestinians wait to fill plastic bottles with drinking water at a public tap in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip
The mother (left) of 20-year-old Israeli St.
Sgt. Amit Yeori mourns during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military
cemetery in Jerusalem today
Hamas
said that 'due to the lack of commitment' by Israel, it resumed its
fire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas showed
it could not be trusted after it violated other cease-fire efforts.
'Israel
is not obliged and is not going to let a terrorist organization decide
when it's convenient to fire at our cities, at our people, and when it's
not,' Netanyahu told Fox News Sunday.
International
diplomats had hoped a temporary lull could be expanded into a more
sustainable truce to end the bloodshed. The 20-day war has killed more
than 1,060 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to Palestinian
health officials.
'WE CANNOT TRADE SECURITY FOR GOOD PR': ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ON THE CIVILIAN DEATHS IN GAZA
Every
Palestinian civilian's death costs Israel in its fight for world
opinion but the Jewish state must not cede its security for the sake of
public relations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he
pressed his nation's case on America's Sunday news programs.
The Israeli leader said Palestinians are trying to shape global opinion with images of piled-up slain civilians.
'We're telling the civilians to leave, Hamas is telling them to stay,' Netanyahu said in satellite interviews from Israel as the lethal conflict enters its third week.
'Why is it telling them to stay? Because it wants to pile up their own dead bodies.' He said: 'They not only want to kill our people, they want to sacrifice their own people.'
A Palestinian minister countered that Israel's actions are unjustified.
'The Israeli aggression on Gaza does not bring peace to Israel,' said Mohammad Shtayyeh, minister of the Palestinian Economic Council for Research and Development.
Netanyahu said his nation's efforts to secure itself will not yield despite growing concern about deaths at the hands of Israel's force. He insisted Israel is not targeting civilians but showed little willingness to ease its military actions against the Islamic militant group Hamas.
'Hamas is a terror organisation that is committed to our destruction,' Netanyahu said.
Palestinians said Israeli aggression has consequences.
'Israel has to accommodate the Palestinian demands and aspirations for ending occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,' Shtayyeh said. 'This is the only answer.'
Netanyahu spoke to NBC's Meet the Press, Fox News Sunday and CBS' Face the Nation. Shtayyeh and Netanyahu appeared on CNN's 'State of the Union'.
The Israeli leader said Palestinians are trying to shape global opinion with images of piled-up slain civilians.
'We're telling the civilians to leave, Hamas is telling them to stay,' Netanyahu said in satellite interviews from Israel as the lethal conflict enters its third week.
'Why is it telling them to stay? Because it wants to pile up their own dead bodies.' He said: 'They not only want to kill our people, they want to sacrifice their own people.'
A Palestinian minister countered that Israel's actions are unjustified.
'The Israeli aggression on Gaza does not bring peace to Israel,' said Mohammad Shtayyeh, minister of the Palestinian Economic Council for Research and Development.
Netanyahu said his nation's efforts to secure itself will not yield despite growing concern about deaths at the hands of Israel's force. He insisted Israel is not targeting civilians but showed little willingness to ease its military actions against the Islamic militant group Hamas.
'Hamas is a terror organisation that is committed to our destruction,' Netanyahu said.
Palestinians said Israeli aggression has consequences.
'Israel has to accommodate the Palestinian demands and aspirations for ending occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,' Shtayyeh said. 'This is the only answer.'
Netanyahu spoke to NBC's Meet the Press, Fox News Sunday and CBS' Face the Nation. Shtayyeh and Netanyahu appeared on CNN's 'State of the Union'.
Israeli soldiers near armoured personnel
carriers ready their gear in a staging area, very close to the Gaza
Strip border, in southern Israel
Israeli soldiers pray near the Israeli Gaza border as the 24 hour ceasefire began today. It did not last
Preparation: Israeli soldiers attend a briefing in a staging area close to the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel
International diplomats had hoped a temporary lull could be expanded into a more sustainable truce to end the bloodshed
War machine: Israel soldiers on top of their Markava tank heading to the Gaza Strip today
Israeli soldiers pray near the border. Forty-two
Israeli soldiers and over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed as the
Israeli operation 'Protective Edge' nears three weeks
Relationship: An Israeli soldier with his girlfriend attends a briefing
On the ground: A TV reporter does a broadcast as the 24 hour ceasefire began
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation's
efforts to secure itself will not yield despite growing concern about
deaths at the hands of Israel's force
Israel
has lost 43 soldiers, while two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker in
Israel were killed by rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza.
Israel says it launched the war on Hamas July 8 to halt relentless rocket fire.
It
expanded its assault over a week later, sending ground troops into the
Gaza Strip to demolish Hamas' wide network of tunnels, which Israel sees
as a strategic threat.
Each
side remains far apart on terms for a final cease-fire. Hamas has
demanded that a crippling Israeli and Egyptian blockade of Gaza be
lifted and Israel has asked that Gaza be demilitarised.
War begins again: Israeli air strikes
resumed on the 20th day of the conflict after the military said
Palestinian militants had fired several rockets at southern Israel.
Pictured: A bomb is seen dropping onto an area of Gaza city this morning
as black smoke from others rises into the air. A new 24-hour truce has
been agreed
Destruction: Black smoke and fireballs
once again littered the Gaza City skyline this morning. The conflict
has claimed more than 1,500 Palestinian lives in 20 days
As the fierce attacks on Gaza began
again, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of
'cynically using the people of Gaza as a human shield'
Following
Hamas' call for a break in fighting, an Israeli airstrike killed one
person in Gaza when it hit a vehicle carrying municipal workers on their
way to fix water pipes, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Police
said Israeli tanks resumed firing shells on densely populated areas
south of Gaza City. One shell hit an apartment building and several
shells struck a building at Tal Al Hawa. Navy boats also resumed firing
on the coastal side of Gaza, police said. The Israeli military did not
immediately confirm that it resumed strikes.
Families
in Gaza ordinarily would be busy now with preparations for the
three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, with children getting new clothes, shoes
and haircuts, and families visiting each other.
In
the outdoor market of the Jebaliya refugee camp, vendors set up stands
with clothes and shoes, but said business was slow. Hamed Abul Atta, 22,
a shoe salesman, said he hadn't made a single sale in the first three
hours after opening.
Grim: Rocket fire could be seen
soaring into Gaza City's Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood this morning, where
the sky was darkened by clouds of smoke
Carnage: Smoke rises after Israeli
tanks shell the Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood during a military operation
in Gaza City this morning, as the previous truce lay in tatters
Apocalyptic: The conflict has claimed
at least 1,060 Palestinian lives, a toll which rose sharply after an
estimated 150 bodies were pulled from rubble in the ceasefire
Smoke: Parts of Gaza city once again
erupted into smoke and flame as the ceasefire was broken. Israel said
several rockets had been fired into its territory
Strike: Smoke rising over Gaza City.
As 2pm came and went, the sounds of rocket sirens in Israel and shelling
in Gaza could still be heard by journalists and residents
Offensive:
Towering mosques and communications masks are surrounded by black smoke
as Gaza City is pounded in another round of strikes
Abul Atta said he and his family were staying with relatives after fleeing the Shijaiyah district of Gaza City, which has seen heavy fighting. He said a cousin and three other relatives were among dozens of people killed there last week.
'We can't feel any joy right now,' he said when asked if he would mark the holiday.
Also
after Hamas' call for a cease-fire, a rocket fired from Gaza lightly
wounded one person in Israel, police said. Sirens wailed in a number of
southern Israeli towns.
The
Israeli military said earlier it would 'resume its aerial, naval and
ground activity in the Gaza Strip' after rockets continued to hit
Israel. It said more than 50 rockets had been fired since midnight. The
military also released a video showing a rocket being fired from what it
identified as a Gaza school.
A
12-hour lull Saturday - agreed to by both sides following intense U.S.
and United Nations mediation efforts - saw Palestinians return to
neighborhoods reduced to rubble and allowed medics to collect close to
150 bodies, Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra said.
The
Israeli military says it is doing its utmost to prevent civilian
casualties, including by sending evacuation warnings to residents in
targeted areas, and blames Hamas for putting civilians in harm's way.
Suffering: A Palestinian child waits
to collect drinking water in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. At
least three more Palestinians were killed this morning, medics said
Blameless: Many children have been
caught up in the conflict as thousands of pro-Palestinian activists
march in protest in cities such as London and Paris
Taking stock: As debate continued over
a ceasefire, Palestinian children made the trip to refill drinking
water bottles at public tap in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip
More than 160,000 displaced Palestinians have sought shelter at dozens of U.N. schools, an eight-fold increase since the start of Israel's ground operation more than a week ago, the U.N. said.
Hamas
and other militants in Gaza have fired more than 2,400 rockets at
Israel since hostilities began on July 8, many deep into the Israeli
heartland and toward most of the country's major cities.
Israeli
airstrikes have destroyed hundreds of homes, including close to 500 in
direct hits, according to Palestinian rights groups. Entire Gaza
neighborhoods near the border have been reduced to rubble.
Before
the announcement of the holiday cease-fire, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu
Zuhri had said any truce must include a withdrawal of Israeli forces
from Gaza, and that tens of thousands of displaced people must be
allowed to return to their homes.
Relaxing: Israeli soldiers sleep in a
tent near the border today. In the hours after a supposed ceasefire
there was confusion as accusations flew on both sides
Peace: Israeli soldiers make the
famous V symbol on a tank. The conflict has killed more than 1,060
Palestinians and 43 Israeli soldiers in 20 days
Rest: An Israeli soldier washes his
hair near the border between Gaza and Israel, surrounded by supplies
which include a loudhailer and an empty vodka box
Eyes of the world: A news cameraman in
a flak jacket films in Gaza after bombs began raining down again this
morning. There have been international protests
Observers: Members of the media watch
from Sderot, Israel. More than 1,060 Palestinians and 43 Israeli
soldiers have been killed in the 20-day war, according to medics
Destruction: Looking out over Gaza
City this morning. Parts of the city have already been reduced to
post-apocalyptic landscapes strewn with little else but rubble
Israel's acceptance of the cease-fire extension was premised on its soldiers remaining in Gaza to destroy the more than 30 tunnels the military says it has found. Hamas has said it will not halt fire until it wins guarantees that the border blockade, tightened by Israel and Egypt after it seized the territory in 2007, will be lifted.
Any
new border arrangements for Gaza would likely give a role to
Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who reached a
power-sharing deal earlier this year with Hamas that was harshly
condemned by Israel. Egypt wants forces loyal to Abbas to be posted on
the Gaza side of the border before considering opening its Rafah
crossing.
Israeli
police meanwhile said security forces prevented a major attack when
they stopped a suspicious vehicle in the West Bank and discovered a
large explosive inside. Police said the suspect was a Palestinian from
the West Bank city of Ramallah in his 30s.
Aftermath: Despite bombings beginning
again this morning, Palestinians still walked through the rubble of
their homes to retrieve their belongings in Beit Hanoun, Gaza
Surveying the damage: Parts of Beit
Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, have been reduced to a warzone
landscape with nothing but burnt-out buildings and rubble
Poignant: Damage from air strikes on a
children's ward at a hospital in Beit Hanoun, with cartoon characters
still painted on the blackened, dirt-strewn walls
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2707326/Second-Gaza-ceasefire.html#ixzz38kLbI11b
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2707326/Second-Gaza-ceasefire.html#ixzz38kLbI11b
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