Terrorists fired eight rockets from Hamas-controlled Gaza at Israeli towns and cities shortly before the end of the 72 hour truce yesterday and after Hamas had already agreed to extend the ceasefire by five days. It was the last in the long list of consecutive ceasefires in the past six weeks that Hamas had unilaterally violated.
Despite the blatant violation by Hamas, Israel continued to observe the ceasefire and agreed to the extension that goes until midnight on Tuesday, August 18, but insisted on the caveat that it held the right to strike any area from which rockets are fired during the ceasefire.
“According to an Israeli official, Israel had agreed to the extension but ordered the Israel Defense Forces to strike once rocket fire breached the truce.”
The ceasefires have allowed civilians in Gaza to get food, medicine and other essential needs, but have been plagued by repeated Hamas violations and attempts abduct soldiers.
During the ceasefire Hamas continued to manufacture long-range rockets it uses to attack Israeli population centers, posting several pictures on their twitter feed and uploading a video to YouTube.
Jittery Israelis living in towns and cities that have been bombarded by Hamas for the past six weeks got another scare when sirens were sounded Thursday morning, but as opposed to the rocket attacks the violated the ceasefire Wednesday night, the siren turned out to be a false alarm.
Hamas violated the last ceasefire by firing mortars at the Kerem Shalom crossing, forcing Israel to close the crossing. This temporarily halted the flow of humanitarian aid needed for civilians in Gaza. Despite the constant attacks on Israel including attacks on the crossing, a massive amount of humanitarian aid continues to be transferred into Gaza via Israel.
Humanitarian aid that has gone to Gaza via Kerem Shalom since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge includes 870 tons of medicines and medical supplies, 4.44 million liters of diesel fuel, 1.24 million liters for of fuel for UNRWA, millions of liters of fuel for transportation and 3,021 tons of gas for domestic use. Israel has also carried out repairs to electricity, water, sewage and communications lines to Gaza that have been damaged by Hamas rockets or as a result of the fighting.
[Photo: Hamas TV YouTube channel]