(Washington, D.C.) — Early this morning, the Israeli security cabinet voted to accept Egypt’s cease fire proposal.
Hamas leaders, however, promptly rejected the proposal as a “joke.” Instead, they fired a barrage of 47 rockets at Israel just as the Israelis stopped their combat operations.
Senior Israeli government sources say Hamas’ rejection clears the way for Israel to launch new attacks against the terrorists in Gaza. They also say it provides broad international legitimacy for Israel’s defensive efforts because Israel is being seen by world leaders as reasonable while Hamas is clearly the aggressor.
Netanyahu has ordered Israeli air strikes to recommence. Now the question is whether he and his security cabinet will decide a major ground operation is necessary and wise.
Clearly, we need to keep praying for calm to be restored soon. After all, so much pain and so much damage has been caused by this latest rocket war so far.
Here’s the big picture so far, according to the IDF blog:
- Over 1081 rocket have been launched at Israel.
- 845 of those rockets hit Israel
- Approximately 191 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
- The IDF has targeted over 1,576 terror targets, with both naval and aerial capabilities.
Here’s a summary of what happened on Monday, according to the IDF blog:
- More than 115 rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel.
- At least 92 rockets struck Israel.
- 15 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
- The IDF hit 163 terror targets in the Gaza Strip.
——————–