At just before 9am local time on July 15, Israel’s cabinet approved a ceasefire and effectively signaled the end of Operation Protective Edge.

Moments later during a conference call organized by The Israel Project, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren told reporters “Now that Israel has accepted the cease-fire and has offered to go into further negotiations, if Hamas reopens fire, Israel’s justification for responding in a very robust way is greatly reinforced.”

As the conference call ended, Gaza terrorists fired a series of salvos of rockets towards Israel – aiming at towns, cities and communities far and wide.

As the rocket fire continued unabated, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said

“If Hamas rejects the Egyptian proposal, and the rocket fire from Gaza does not cease, and that appears to be the case now, we are prepared to continue and intensify our operation to protect our people. For this we have kept full support from the responsible members of the international community.”

Five hours after the ceasefire had come into force, despite dozens of rockets targeting major population centers, Israel was still honoring the truce.

[Archive photo: IDF / Wiki Commons]