(Image source: Eli Hershkovitz/Ha’aretz)



BY JESSICA SIBERT

ANCHOR CHRISTY LEWIS

You’re watching multisource global video news analysis from Newsy.

Only hours after it was implemented, the cease-fire between the resistance in the Gaza Strip and Israel was broken. Al Jazeera reports.

“Palestinians living in the strip describe a night with sounds of drones and explosions. It’s the most tense the situation has been between the two sides since August, when Israel blamed occupants in Gaza for carrying out an attack in Eilat, killing several Israelis. Egyptian officials brokered a cease-fire that was due to start earlier Sunday morning… but there’s been no sign of that.”

The truce was reached after an eruption of violence over the weekend, in which 10 Palestinian militants and one Israeli man were killed. A blogger for the American Thinker says the rocket attacks by the militants are out of line.

“I suppose it was wildly optimistic to think that the Palestinians would call at least a temporary halt to their campaign to kill Israeli civilians following the very generous prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit. Perhaps the Palestinians believe their actions are the proper way to say ‘thanks.’”

However, Israel was the first to violate the cease-fire, when it carried out multiple air strikes on groups the military says were planning to launch more rockets. A reporter for Fox News says the group who attacked Israel might not be the same group who agreed to a ceasefire.

“What we are seeing is this power struggle between Hamas who controls the Gaza strip, the Islamic jihad which is a little bit more hard-line, and this latest rocket launched by a group called the Democratic Liberation Front of Palestine. So, it is going to be difficult over the next 24-48 hours to get these groups in line to actually stop the firing of the rockets.”

Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar told Euronews Israel’s assault was unjustified, especially considering the recent prisoner swap.

“The resistance has the right to defend itself. I think Israel is the only loser in all these criminal actions, because there are no reasons to carry out an attack against any Palestinian leader in Gaza while people are celebrating the release of prisoners.”

In fact, a reporter for RT said the violence could hamper the remaining Shalit prisoner-exchange deal between Palestine and Israel, as at least half of the Palestinian prisoners are still locked up.

“There are many people here saying this does jeopardize that prisoner exchange deal and that it will be almost a convenient excuse for the Israelis not to release the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners that it is still committed to release as part of that deal.”

Egypt is now working to achieve a new truce between Israel and the Islamic Jihad that would go into effect 10 p.m. Sunday night.