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Israel’s Security Cabinet Accepts Egyptian Cease-Fire Proposal Israel Resumes Attack After Militants Spurn Cease-Fire Plan
(35 minutes later)
JERUSALEM — Israel on Tuesday accepted Egypt’s proposal for a cessation of hostilities with Hamas and other militant Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, but barrages of rockets from Gaza continued to fly into Israel several hours later. JERUSALEM — Hostilities between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip continued Tuesday, despite Israel’s initial embrace of an Egyptian cease-fire proposal, which the Islamist Hamas movement appeared to reject.
“We agreed to the Egyptian proposal in order to give the opportunity to deal with demilitarization of the strip from missiles, rockets and tunnels through diplomatic means,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said around noon, after a meeting with the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “But if Hamas does not accept the cease-fire proposal, as it looks now, Israel will have all the international legitimacy in order to achieve the desired quiet.” Israel announced at 9 a.m. Tuesday that it had accepted the Egyptian initiative, but a barrage of nearly 50 rockets from Gaza continued to fly into its territory over the next several hours. By 3 p.m., Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, confirmed that “we’ve resumed some striking in Gaza,” but would not provide specifics. At least one airstrike hit Gaza City.
Leaders of Hamas have not officially responded to Israel’s acceptance of the Egyptian proposal, which would halt the aerial battle that began on July 7 and calls for Israeli and Palestinian delegations to come to Cairo within 48 hours to negotiate further terms. But Israel counted at least 22 rockets from Gaza into southern communities between 9 a.m., when the cease-fire was to take effect, and noon, one of which hit a home in the city of Ashdod, causing damage but no injuries. Sirens signaling incoming rockets continued to sound in central and northern Israel as well. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had said earlier that he would respond with force if the rockets did not stop.
“We agreed to the Egyptian proposal in order to give the opportunity to deal with demilitarization of the strip from missiles, rockets and tunnels through diplomatic means,” Mr. Netanyahu said after a meeting with the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “But if Hamas does not accept the cease-fire proposal, as it looks now, Israel will have all the international legitimacy in order to achieve the desired quiet.”
Leaders of Hamas have not officially responded to Israel’s acceptance of the Egyptian proposal, which would halt the aerial battle that began on July 7 and calls for Israeli and Palestinian delegations to travel to Cairo within 48 hours to negotiate further terms.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Cairo-based leader of Hamas, said in a message posted on Twitter around the time the rockets were flying that the organization was still “consulting” and had “not issued an official position on the Egyptian initiative.”Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Cairo-based leader of Hamas, said in a message posted on Twitter around the time the rockets were flying that the organization was still “consulting” and had “not issued an official position on the Egyptian initiative.”
A Twitter post, in Hebrew, by Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, took responsibility for the rockets that fired at Israeli cities, adding, “We will continue to bombard until our conditions are met.” A Twitter post, in Hebrew, by Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, took responsibility for the rockets that were fired at Israeli cities on Tuesday, adding, “We will continue to bombard until our conditions are met.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the brigades “totally and completely” rejected the Egyptian initiative in a statement emailed to journalists. The current hostilities, in which 185 Palestinians and no Israelis have been killed, are the third intense flare-up between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza in less than six years. They began more than than two months after the spectacular collapse of American-brokered peace talks and a month after the swearing-in of a new Palestinian government that was based on a reconciliation pact with Hamas.
“If the published text of this initiative is correct, we only say that this is an initiative of subordination and submission,” the statement said. “For us, this initiative isn’t worth the ink used for typing it.” Tensions had been rising since the June 12 abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank, which Israel blamed on Hamas, and the July 2 kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian 16-year-old in an apparent revenge attack by extremist Jews.
The website Al-Resalah, a Gaza-based news organization affiliated with Hamas, on Tuesday quoted Lebanon-based officials as dismissing the Israeli move. “The occupation must accept the conditions and demands of the resistance,” Osama Hamdan, Hamas’s director of foreign affairs, told Al-Resalah, referring to the opening of border crossings and the release of former Palestinian prisoners rearrested in the West Bank in recent weeks. “Hamas refuses any blackmailing or submission to conditions degrading the rights of resistance.” In Gaza City, outside Shifa Hospital, which has treated many of the conflict’s worst casualties and become a focal point of mourning and defiance, several dozen people cheered as a rocket ripped skyward, leaving a white contrail.
A representative of Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza, described Israel’s move as “meaningless” and “unserious,” according to Al-Resalah. “Ya Qassam, ya habib,” they chanted, referring to the Hamas military brigades that fire the rockets. “Strike, strike Tel Aviv.”
The response was a stark contrast from 2012, when an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that ended eight days of cross-border violence was greeted by street parades celebrating it as a Hamas victory. A Hamas security official outside the hospital, who gave only a nickname, Abu Mahmoud, pointed at the rocket and said, “This is our celebration.”
He referred to the cease-fire proposal as “only a way for Egypt to save face” and said bluntly, “We don’t accept it.”
The Egyptian proposal, which was embraced by the United States, the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority, calls for border crossings into Gaza to “be opened,” and for the movement of people and goods to be “facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.”The Egyptian proposal, which was embraced by the United States, the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority, calls for border crossings into Gaza to “be opened,” and for the movement of people and goods to be “facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.”
Secretary of State John Kerry, who was expected to return to Washington on Tuesday afternoon from Vienna, where he had been trying to iron out a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, said in a statement that the proposal “provides an opportunity to end the violence and restore calm.”
“We welcome the Israeli cabinet’s decision to accept it,” said Mr. Kerry, who was scheduled to brief reporters at noon Vienna time. “We urge all other parties to accept the proposal.”
Tony Blair, the former British prime minister and envoy for the so-called Middle East quartet — the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — called the Egyptian effort an “opportunity to put in place a long-term solution.”
“This is a very important moment because it gives us the opportunity not just to cease the violence now but to bring genuine hope to the people of Gaza and Israel that there is going to be the possibility of a real and lasting peace,” Mr. Blair said after meeting with President Shimon Peres of Israel. He said the initiative would help reunite Gaza and the West Bank and “have Gaza opened up again to the world.”
Mr. Peres, whose term ends next week, called for a return to peace talks that would bring “two states for two peoples.”
“I want to say something to the people of Gaza,” Mr. Peres said. “This was the third major escalation in the past six years. Each time it is innocent civilians that suffer and pay the price. Rockets and terror bring you no closer to your national aspirations. Terrorism will not deliver for the Palestinian people.”
Some Israeli politicians criticized the cease-fire plan, saying that not enough damage had yet been inflicted on Hamas’s infrastructure and weapons caches. Haaretz, an Israel daily, reported that the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and the economy minister, Naftali Bennett, had voted against it in the early-morning meeting of top ministers known as Israel’s security cabinet.Some Israeli politicians criticized the cease-fire plan, saying that not enough damage had yet been inflicted on Hamas’s infrastructure and weapons caches. Haaretz, an Israel daily, reported that the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and the economy minister, Naftali Bennett, had voted against it in the early-morning meeting of top ministers known as Israel’s security cabinet.
Uri Ariel, the housing minister who is in Mr. Bennett’s far-right party, called the decision “a strategic mistake akin to building a train without paving the last kilometer.” On Twitter, he cracked that previous Israeli operations in Gaza had led to quiet for three years and 18 months, while the latest calm lasted an hour — “impossible to say there is no progress.”Uri Ariel, the housing minister who is in Mr. Bennett’s far-right party, called the decision “a strategic mistake akin to building a train without paving the last kilometer.” On Twitter, he cracked that previous Israeli operations in Gaza had led to quiet for three years and 18 months, while the latest calm lasted an hour — “impossible to say there is no progress.”
Danny Danon, the deputy defense minister and a frequent critic of Mr. Netanyahu from within the prime minister’s own Likud Party, described the cease-fire as “a slap in the face of all the residents of Israel.” Danny Danon, the deputy defense minister and a frequent critic of Mr. Netanyahu from within the prime minister’s own Likud Party, had described the cease-fire as “a slap in the face of all the residents of Israel.”
And Isaac Herzog, the head of Israel’s Labor Party and leader of the opposition in Parliament, said: “If the cease-fire doesn’t lead to forward movement in the peace process it is useless.”And Isaac Herzog, the head of Israel’s Labor Party and leader of the opposition in Parliament, said: “If the cease-fire doesn’t lead to forward movement in the peace process it is useless.”
But some analysts said there were no downsides to Israel’s move: The Egyptian cease-fire would either lead to a genuine calm that benefits both sides or, if Hamas rejects the terms, provide Israel with cover to continue the conflict. But some analysts said there were no downsides to Israel’s embrace of the cease-fire: : The Egyptian cease-fire would either lead to a genuine calm that benefits both sides or, if Hamas rejects the terms, provide Israel with cover to continue the conflict.
“If Hamas looks at the cards it has been dealt — and they are very weak cards indeed — resuming military operations against Israel is not a good hand to play,” Michael B. Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, told reporters on Tuesday in a conference call organized by The Israel Project, an advocacy group.“If Hamas looks at the cards it has been dealt — and they are very weak cards indeed — resuming military operations against Israel is not a good hand to play,” Michael B. Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, told reporters on Tuesday in a conference call organized by The Israel Project, an advocacy group.
“Now that Israel has accepted the cease-fire and has offered to go into further negotiations,” Mr. Oren said, “if Hamas reopens fire, Israel’s justification for responding in a very robust way is greatly reinforced.”“Now that Israel has accepted the cease-fire and has offered to go into further negotiations,” Mr. Oren said, “if Hamas reopens fire, Israel’s justification for responding in a very robust way is greatly reinforced.”
The diplomatic developments followed a relatively quiet night, in which the Israeli military bombed 25 sites in Gaza, killing five people in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, bringing the total of Palestinian deaths since the operation began to 185, according to the Gaza Health Ministry; about 1,400 others have been wounded. The diplomatic developments followed a relatively quiet night, in which the Israeli military bombed 25 sites in Gaza, killing five people in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, according to the Gaza Health Ministry; about 1,400 others have been wounded.
Ashraf al-Qedra, the Health Ministry spokesman, and local journalists said that Ismail and Mohammed Najjar, relatives in their 40s who worked as guards on agricultural land in a former Israeli settlement in Khan Younis, were killed early Tuesday. In Rafah, drone strikes killed Atwa al-Amour, a 63-year-old farmer, and Bushra Zourob, 53, a woman who was near the target, a man on a motorbike, who was wounded.Ashraf al-Qedra, the Health Ministry spokesman, and local journalists said that Ismail and Mohammed Najjar, relatives in their 40s who worked as guards on agricultural land in a former Israeli settlement in Khan Younis, were killed early Tuesday. In Rafah, drone strikes killed Atwa al-Amour, a 63-year-old farmer, and Bushra Zourob, 53, a woman who was near the target, a man on a motorbike, who was wounded.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said Tuesday morning that Israel had hit 1,609 targets in Gaza during the eight-day operation, and counted 1,090 rockets fired into Israel, 193 of which had been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.An Israeli military spokeswoman said Tuesday morning that Israel had hit 1,609 targets in Gaza during the eight-day operation, and counted 1,090 rockets fired into Israel, 193 of which had been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
That did not include the assault that began after Israel’s embrace of the cease-fire proposal: more than 30 rockets were fired between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., the military said, mainly aimed at southern areas but also as far north as Haifa and Rehovot. That did not include the assault that began after Israel’s acceptance of the cease-fire proposal: more than 30 rockets were fired between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., the military said, mainly aimed at southern areas but also as far north as Haifa and Rehovot.
In Ashdod, a city not far from Gaza that has been pummeled throughout the week, a villa overlooking the sea was directly hit and five surrounding buildings were sprayed with shrapnel.In Ashdod, a city not far from Gaza that has been pummeled throughout the week, a villa overlooking the sea was directly hit and five surrounding buildings were sprayed with shrapnel.
Gay Dery, 30, had just woken up and did not make it into the bomb shelter — he was lucky, he said, because it ended up being filled with flying debris. Johanna Hizkiya, 32, was still trembling an hour later as a soldier held her child near their home, which was covered in broken glass.Gay Dery, 30, had just woken up and did not make it into the bomb shelter — he was lucky, he said, because it ended up being filled with flying debris. Johanna Hizkiya, 32, was still trembling an hour later as a soldier held her child near their home, which was covered in broken glass.
“Everything just flew in the air on us,” Ms. Hizkiya said. “The door flew.”“Everything just flew in the air on us,” Ms. Hizkiya said. “The door flew.”