Israel resumed its air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday a day after holding its fire in deference to an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire deal.
Israel’s attacks in the Gaza Strip killed at least three Palestinians in the early hours of Wednesday and destroyed the house of Mahmoud Zahar — who is believed to be in hiding elsewhere — in the first apparent targeting of a top Hamas political leader.
The week-old conflict seemed to be at a turning point on Tuesday, with Israel threatening to step up an offensive that could include an invasion of the densely populated enclave of 1.8 million.
But Moussa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas political official who was in Cairo, said the movement, which is seeking a deal that would ease the Egyptian and Israeli border restrictions throttling Gaza’s economy, had made no final decision on Cairo’s proposal.
Gaza medical officials say 191 Palestinians, including at least 150 civilians, among them 31 children, have been killed.
Israel resumed attacks in Gaza six hours after implementation of the truce was to have begun.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in broadcast remarks late on Tuesday that Israel will “expand and intensify” its campaign on Hamas, though he did not specifically mention the possibility of a ground incursion.
With Israel’s punishing campaign crossed the death toll to 191, higher than the 177 people killed in the last major round of violence in and around Gaza in November 2012.
Human rights groups say more than 75 per cent of the dead have been non-combatants. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says more than a quarter of them have been children.
