Posted on 08/13/2014 1:14:29 PM PDT by Dave346
Two hours before the Gaza truce was due to end Wednesday midnight, Palestinian rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at large parts of southern Israel, including Ashkelon, Kiryat Gath, Yoav District, Shear Hanegev. Two were intercepted. No casualties were reported. Hamas envoys said that the Cairo talks had broken down and the truce would not be renewed unless their conditions were met. They called off a scheduled news conference without explanation. Hamas went back to launching rockets after Israel nodded its acceptance of a further truce, while at the same time concentrating armored forces on the Gaza border in case the Palestinians against fired rockets. Wednesday afternoon, IDF reservists were called up, as columns of tanks, tank carriers and APCs thundered down the roads leading to the Gaza border.
DEBKAfile reported Tuesday: The seventh truce in the ongoing Israel-Hamas passage of arms is generally expected to end Wednesday night Aug. 13, in a fresh outbreak of hostilities triggered by resumed Hamas rocket fire. The general media trend predicted a further ceasefire.
Our sources also reported that the indirect Egyptian-brokered talks between the parties in Cairo never got off the ground. From the start, all three realized that the gaps between Israel and the Palestinians were unbridgeable and, moreover, that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority were totally at odds on a common negotiating stance.
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources learned that Egyptian intelligence mediators presented separate papers to the Israelis and Palestinians, knowing - as they acknowledged behind the scenes - that the two papers were miles apart but they were not overly concerned about the lack of headway.
Our military sources say that Israel’s government and military leaders were braced for the next stage of the confrontation with Hamas, which will be a lot tougher, deeper and broader than a few restrained air strikes.
What the IDF need are 3/4 bunker busters and drop them over some of the tunnel areas. Let the sand, dry mud, and anything else, blow back into gaza. It is a shame a civilized country has to put up with uncivilized Hamas.
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