A WEEK PLUS A DAY AND COUNTING...

Tue, Jul 15, 2014 / 17 Tammuz, 5774 A morning that began with Israel accepting an Egyptian-initiated ceasefire plan to end more than a week of hostilities with Gaza ended in tragedy, as Hamas rejected the truce and the conflict claimed its first Israeli victim on Tuesday. Despite Israel's declaration that it was ceasing fire, Gaza terrorists continued to launch rockets on Israel throughout the day, eventually forcing the IDF to respond by resuming air strikes on Gaza. Shrapnel from a mortar shell killed a man at the Erez Crossing, who, according to Israeli media reports, was a Chabad rabbi who had volunteered to distribute food to soldiers in the dangerous area. Simultaneously, a series of explosions sounded in the greater Tel Aviv area as the Iron Dome shot at least two rockets fired from Gaza out of the sky. The barrage of rockets set off sirens in the South and central areas such as Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and the surrounding areas as well as in Modi'in and Shoham near Ben Gurion Airport. The Iron Dome also shot down a rocket in Ashkelon. Rockets were also fired at Dimona, the home of Israel's nuclear reactor. Israel refrained from responding to the Gaza rockets for some six hours on Tuesday morning to give Hamas a chance to accept the ceasefire before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave the order to resume strikes. In an earlier barrage, a rocket landed in the courtyard of a house in Ashdod, while another rocket hit a warehouse in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. No injuries were reported in the attacks. The Iron Dome intercepted several rockets over Ashdod and at least one in Netivot. A soldier was lightly wounded by shrapnel in Sderot. Hamas took responsibility for the rocket fire. The Security Cabinet Sunday morning accepted the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire that, from Israel's perspective, went into effect at 9:00 am. Rocket fire began less than an hour later, with dozens of projectiles fired from Gaza into Israel eventually sparking the IDF's resumption of strikes at 3 p.m. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said earlier on Tuesday that the Islamist group had not received an official ceasefire proposal, and he repeated its position that demands it has made must be met before it lays down its weapons. Hamas's armed wing, the Kassam Brigades, rejected the reported text of the truce deal, saying: "Our battle with the enemy continues and will increase in ferocity and intensity." Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the country shortly following a mortar and rocket barrage launched at Israel from Gaza on Tuesday afternoon that killed an Israeli civilian near Gaza. "We made the decision to approve a cease fire proposed by Egypt," said the PM, "If Hamas and Islamic Jihad refuse to accept the ceasefire, we will respond with great force." "That is how we responded this afternoon hitting a great number of targets." "If there is to be no ceasefire, our answer is fire," said Netanyahu. And as Ze’ev Jabotinsky used to say: "Better to have a gun and not need it than to need it and not have it!"