Deal's Off: Israel Withdraws Ceasefire as Hamas Targets More Civilians

Tel Aviv, Israel — Tuesday morning, Israel unilaterally agreed to the conditions of an Egypt-brokered ceasefire, completely halting its military operations in Gaza. However, Hamas Muslim Brotherhood terrorists refused to stop firing rockets from Gaza into Israeli population centers. Fifty rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel in six hours since 9 a.m. local time, when the ceasefire was set to initiate.

At 3 p.m. local time, Israel announced that its unilateral declaration was no more. According to IDF spokesperson Peter Lerner, “Following 6 hrs of indiscriminate rocket fire at Israel the IDF has resumed operational activities against Hamas.” Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the Israel Defense Force to “act forcefully against terror targets in Gaza.”

A security source told Breitbart News that Israel was fully prepared to commence a ground operation into Gaza a couple days ago until the offensive was called off at the last minute. Some suspect the inaction was due to the United States withdrawing support for the possible ground operation to take out Hamas. The Obama administration took its demands a step further, pushing Israel to agree to a ceasefire, which they ultimately did unilaterally. The Jewish state then complied with all of the requests set forth by the U.S. and many in the international community.

Earlier Tuesday, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that he was ready to intensify military operations against Hamas if the terror group failed to agree to the ceasefire. “If Hamas rejects the Egyptian proposal and the rocket fire from Gaza does not cease, that appears to be the case, we are prepared to continue and intensify our operation,” Netanyahu said.

The armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam brigades, said Tuesday that the ceasefire plan proposed by Egypt “wasn’t worth the ink it was written with.” The spokesperson continued, calling the proposal “an initiative of kneeling and submission,” before declaring “our battle with the enemy (Israel) continues, and will increase in ferocity and intensity.”