Hamas Rejects Ceasefire; Israel Attacked on 4 Fronts

Tuesday, July 15, 2014 |  Ryan Jones  ISRAEL TODAY

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Hamas has officially rejected an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that was to go into effect at 9 AM on Tuesday morning, while militants from Sinai, Syria and Lebanon joined the fray overnight.

Egypt announced the ceasefire on Monday to great enthusiasm among Western leaders and most Israelis. Israel’s cabinet on Tuesday voted 6–2 in favor of the truce as an opportunity to calm the situation in and around Gaza.

But Hamas officials called the terms of the Egyptian ceasefire proposal “unacceptable,” and claimed it had never even been presented to them. According to media reports, the proposal called for an immediate halt to all hostilities, followed by talks in Cairo to hammer out further details of a long-term truce.

Left-wing politicians and organizations in Israel urged the government to implement a one-sided ceasefire, even if Hamas continued to attack the Jewish state. They argued that Israel’s long-term interests must take precedence over a short-term victory, and that leaving Hamas strong and in control of Gaza was preferable to creating a situation where the coastal enclave descended into chaos and became a haven for even more dangerous terror groups.

Gaza-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh boasted that Israel’s eagerness for a ceasefire was evidence that the “Zionists” were losing the war.

In overnight attacks on Israel, the southern resort town of Eilat was hit for the first time in the current flare-up, presumably by terrorists operating in the Sinai Peninsula. Four Israelis were reported wounded by shrapnel as at least one of the rockets struck the center of Eilat’s popular resort area.

Also overnight, two more rockets from Lebanon hit northern Israel, as did a missile fired from war-torn Syria. It marked the first time Israel had been simultaneously attacked on four fronts - Gaza, Sinai, Lebanon and Syria.

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