Israel targets top Hamas leader as truce falls

Israel resumed its air strikes in Gaza Strip on Wednesday a day after holding its fire in deference to an Egyptian-proposed truce deal that failed to get Hamas militants to halt rocket attacks. Attacks in 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 Hamas defying Arab and Western calls to cease fire and Israel threatening to step up an offensive that could include an invasion of the densely populated enclave of 1.8 million. Under a blueprint announced by Egypt – Gaza’s neighbour – a mutual ‘de-escalation’ was to have begun at 9am (0600 GMT), with hostilities ceasing within 12 hours. Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, rejected the ceasefire deal, a proposal that addressed in only general terms some of its key demands, and said its battle with Israel would ‘increase in ferocity and intensity’. Israeli military said that since the cease-fire deal was to have gone into effect, Hamas had fired 123 rockets at Israel, one killing a civilian – the first Israeli fatality in the fighting. Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted 20 of the Hamas projectiles, including two over Israel’s Tel Aviv city. Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attacks on Tel Aviv, which has been targeted frequently since the war began, as well as for the rocket that killed the Israeli man along the border, according to AFP.