JERUSALEM
Israel on Friday declared the collapse of a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire with Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's military coordinator in the Palestinian territories told U.N. envoy Robert Serry that the ceasefire was annulled, a senior Israeli official told Israeli daily Haaretz.
An official source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office accused Palestinian factions of violating the ceasefire.
"This is once more that Hamas and terror organizations in Gaza are grossly violating the agreed-upon ceasefire, this time before the U.S. secretary of State and the UN Secretary General," the source said.
Neither the Israeli government nor army confirmed the report.
The ceasefire, which came into effect at 08:00 local time on Friday, was declared by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to help Palestinian civilians to stock up on food.
The truce came following 25 days of relentless Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, which killed at least 1458 Palestinians – mostly civilians – and injured more than 8300 others.
Israel claims that the offensive aims to undermine the ability of Palestinian factions to fire rockets at Israeli cities.
According to Israeli figures, at least 61 soldiers have been killed in battles with Palestinian fighters and three civilians by rocket fire.
Israel's military operation, codenamed "Operation Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populate Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.
By Abdel-Raouf Arnaout
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
