Hamas rejects Egypt proposal for truce with Israel

Hamas rejected an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire with Israel on Tuesday, moments after Israeli Cabinet accepted the plan, throwing into disarray international efforts to end a week of fighting that has killed 192 Palestinians and exposed millions of Israelis to Hamas rocket fire. A senior Israeli government official warned that Israel would strike Gaza even harder if Hamas does not accept the truce. Egypt’s cease-fire offer, which was presented late Monday, called for a halt of hostilities as of Tuesday morning, followed by negotiations on easing the closure of Gaza’s borders – a closure that has been enforced by both Israel and Egypt to varying degrees since Hamas seized the territory in 2007. A group of senior Israeli Cabinet ministers accepted the offer on Tuesday, according to a statement by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A senior government official said after the announcement that Israel would step up its military offensive if Hamas rejects the offer. In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the Egyptian proposal was ‘not acceptable.’ The military wing of Hamas, Izzedine al-Qassam, said in a statement on the Hamas website that the proposal ‘does not deserve the ink it was written with’, according to AP.