Renewed Israeli strikes in Gaza kill a 77-year-old Palestinian
, Ahram Online, Tuesday 15 Jul 2014


Renewed Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip killed a 77-year-old man on Tuesday, medics said, the first death since the failure of an Egyptian truce proposal.

The death of the man, in southern Khan Yunis, brought the toll in eight days of violence to 193, according to emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel's security cabinet accepted an Egyptian ceasefire proposal, a government spokesman said, after a week of the deadliest violence in and around Gaza since fighting broke out in 2012.

"The cabinet has decided to accept the Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire starting at 9am today," Ofir Gendelman, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Twitter.

Hamas is still debating an Egyptian-proposed Gaza truce, a top official from the Palestinian group said on Tuesday, as rocket fire from the territory into Israel continued for more than two hours after the ceasefire was meant to go into effect, reported Reuters.

"We are still in consultation and there has been no official position made by the [Hamas] movement regarding the Egyptian proposal," Moussa Abu Marzouk, who was in Cairo, said in a tweet.

Israel carried out at least four air strikes against Gaza on Tuesday afternoon, resuming attacks after the truce failed to get off the ground, AFP correspondents and eyewitnesses said.

"Following six hours of indiscriminate rocket fire at Israel, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have resumed operational activities against Hamas," military spokesman Lieutenant Peter Lerner said on his Twitter account.

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