A house destroyed in the Gaza Strip.
After Israel had agreed to Egypt's proposal for a ceasefire, Hamas broke the quiet in Gaza by firing 125 "rockets and mortars" toward Israeli cities, according to the Israeli military. Israel had stopped their airstrikes toward Gaza after agreeing with Egypt's conditions, and there was a six-hour quiet before Hamas started firing once again.
In the midst of Hamas's attacks, a 37-year-old Israeli civilian was killed. He had been volunteering to give food distributions to Israeli soldiers near the Erez crossing. This was the first Israeli to have been killed in the midst of the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "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. 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," quoted the New York Times.
After a statement from Netanyahu about Israel's intentions to strike back, Israel hit Gaza with more air strikes, causing the death toll of Palestinians to reach almost 200.
Hamas refused the Egyptian proposal for ceasefire on the basis that they were not consulted and their conditions were not met. The Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, posted on Twitter, "We will continue to bombard until our conditions are met."
The intensifying conflicts between Israel and Hamas has been gaining much international attention and involvement, such as the deep involvement of Secretary of State John Kerry.
"I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets in multiple numbers in the face of a goodwill effort to offer ceasefire," the Jerusalem Post quoted Secretary Kerry.
Despite international involvement and desires for peace, most diplomats argue that this conflict will only end when "the fundamental underlying causes of the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict are addressed ad resolved," according to a Guardian report.
