In spite of the 12 hour ceasefire that has been agreed upon in the Gaza region, Hamas militants have declared that several rockets have been fired into Israel as a clear message that an extension of the temporary truce is not an option. Dozens of bodies have been already recovered on Saturday from the rubble.
According to Hamas statements, they cannot agree to a temporary truce as Israel would only use the opportunity to prepare for more attacks. They would, however, desire a complete stop to fighting. While the Israeli cabinet is indeed considering the proposition of the United Nations that the ceasefire be extended for an additional 12 hours, Hamas has made it perfectly clear that they would not support it.
Since the violence began in the Gaza region, more than 1,000 Palestinians and 42 Israelis have lost their lives. 5,900 additional Palestinians have been wounded during the 19 days of fighting according to Gaza health officials. These numbers have alarmed all of the world leaders, so much so that the USA tried to negotiate a truce with the help of Egyptian officials.
Bethany Bell from the BBC explained that people in Gaza would now be preparing themselves for Israeli responses after the rockets fired into Israel by the Hamas.
The ceasefire expired at 17:00 GMT and while Gazans were using the time to recover bodies of loved ones and gather supplies, 12 hours clearly aren’t sufficient. Consequently, a senior Israeli official proposed an extension to the truce, adding another 24 hours. While only four additional hours were convened upon during a phone vote, Hamas spokesman Ehab El-Hussein declared that the extension had not been agreed upon and that there were several reasons for which it had been rejected.
Among this reasons, El-Hussein talked about previous ceasefires in which Israel used the time to prepare new attacks, he also explained that truce violations had taken place during the day and that the scale of destruction that Israel had caused with its offensive was a “game-changer”.
According to the IDF, after 20:00 local time, three mortars and three rockets were launched into Israel. Hamas’ armed wing declared that they had fired two long range missiles and five short range missiles into Israel.
While this situation escalates constantly, foreign ministers from the United States, Qatar, Turkey as well as several European Countries urge both sides to consider extending the truth. Phillip Hammond, UK Foreign Secretary explains that the necessity in the current situation is stopping the loss of life. a
