GAZA CITY, July 15 (agencies): Israel carried out at least four air strikes against Gaza Tuesday afternoon, resuming raids after a truce that failed to get off the ground, AFP correspondents and eyewitnesses said.
An AFP correspondent reported one air strike east of Gaza City, and eyewitnesses reported a second in the centre of the city.
Witnesses also reported strikes in Nusseirat in central Gaza as well as in the Khan Yunis area in the south.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.
The raids came shortly after Israel's army announced it was ending a ceasefire it had observed since 0600 GMT under the terms of an Egyptian truce proposal.
Hamas had effectively rejected the proposal, saying it was not consulted and would not halt fire without a broad deal that included concessions it has sought.
"Hamas has fired 47 rockets since we suspended our strikes in Gaza at 9:00 am. As a result, we have resumed our operation against Hamas," the army said on its official Twitter account.
"Following six hours of indiscriminate rocket fire at Israel, the IDF (army) has resumed operational activities against Hamas," military spokesman Lieutenant Peter Lerner said on his Twitter account.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Israeli official told AFP that the military had been ordered to "act forcefully".
"After Hamas and Islamic Jihad refused the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire and fired dozens of rockets at Israel, the prime minister and defence minister have ordered the IDF to act forcefully against the terror targets in Gaza."
More than 192 people have been killed in Gaza over the past week as Israel has waged a relentless air campaign against Hamas militants.
In response, militants have fired more than a thousand rockets into Israel where no one has been killed in the current confrontation.
Another report adds:Israel accepted an Egyptian proposal to hold fire Tuesday after a week-long campaign in Gaza, but warned Hamas it would hit back even harder if the rocket fire does not stop.
In an early-morning vote, Israel's security cabinet said it would accept an Egyptian ceasefire which went into force at 0600 GMT, despite Hamas rejecting the initiative.
But the calm was short-lived, with sirens sending tens of thousands running for cover along Israel's Mediterranean coast as militants fired rockets at the densely-populated plain.
The army said one was even fired at the port city of Haifa, 165 kilometres (102 miles) to the north, although there was no confirmation of anything landing there.
The truce proposal, which Cairo laid out late Monday, won US support as the death toll in Gaza soared to 192 after a week of intensive bombardment by the Israeli air force.
But the Islamist Hamas movement, whose militants have fired more than 1,000 rockets, ruled out any end to the fighting without a full agreement.
And tensions rose along Israel's other frontiers, with three rockets hitting in and around the southern resort city of Eilat overnight after another fired from Lebanon struck just outside the northern coastal town of Nahariya, the army said.
A rocket fired from the Syrian Golan also struck the Israeli-occupied sector, prompting the air force to launch a pre-dawn strike, killing four, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
As the violence resumed, with 35 rockets striking Israel since the 0600 GMT deadline, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas the Jewish state would not hesitate resume its punishing campaign in and around Gaza.
"We responded positively to the Egyptian proposal to give a chance to deal with the demilitarisation of Gaza," Netanyahu said, referring to Hamas's arsenal of missiles and rockets.
"But if Hamas doesn't accept the ceasefire proposal-and that's how it seems at this point in time-Israel will have all the international legitimacy to broaden its military activity in order to achieve the necessary quiet."
