Humanitarian Ceasefire Collapsed, Fighting in Gaza Goes On

Gaza (PNA/Xinhua) — A Palestinian was killed and several others injured on Sunday after Israeli war jets resumed airstrikes on Gaza, where a UN-proposed humanitarian ceasefire for 42 hours between Israel and Hamas collapsed.

On Sunday afternoon, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in an emailed press statement that Hamas and the Palestinian factions agreed to accept the UN-proposed ceasefire for 24 hours, but Israel rejected it.

“Hamas doesn’t seek a ceasefire, but we demanded a humanitarian ceasefire for our people in the Gaza Strip,” said Abu Zuhri. Witnesses said militants from Gaza and Israeli ground forces exchanged fire in eastern Gaza city.

Meanwhile, Hamas armed wing militants claimed responsibility of firing several rockets into central and southern Israel, while Israeli war jets and tanks fired several missiles and shells on various areas in the Gaza Strip.

Ashraf al-Qedra, Gaza health ministry spokesman, told reporters that one Palestinian young man was killed and two injured in an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis.

He added that eight Palestinians were injured, two critically, in separate airstrikes and tanks shelling on Gaza city. Israel Radio reported that an Israeli woman was injured after her house was hit by a Palestinian rocket.

Israel in July 8 launched a large-scale operation on the Gaza Strip, where 1,031 Palestinians and 43 Israelis were killed and more than 6,000 Palestinians were injured.

Efforts to reach a ceasefire or a truce between Israel and Gaza militants had so far failed, where Hamas movement conditions any ceasefire with ending seven years of an Israeli blockade imposed on the coastal enclave. (PNA/Xinhua) JBP/JSD

Image Credit: english.al-akhbar.com