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Two children wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza

Hamas accuses Israel of truce violation

CAIRO, August 19, /ITAR-TASS/. Two Palestinian children were wounded on Tuesday as a result of new Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian coastal enclave’s health authorities reported.

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Israeli army ordered to resume strikes against targets in Gaza after rocket attacks

The authorities said the children received wounds of medium severity when an airport east of the city of Rafah in Gaza on the border with Egypt came under fire.

Israeli combat aircraft resumed strikes against Gaza on Tuesday following rocket attacks from the area. According to Palestinian sources, Israeli aviation carried out at least 10 raids on the enclave’s north and south. Patrol vessels also opened fire on Gaza’s embankment.

Earlier, Palestinian and Israeli media reported that radicals fired three rockets on southern Israel. The rockets exploded in a desert near the cities of Netivot and Beersheba harming no one. No group acting in Gaza has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet.

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Ceasefire in Gaza extended for 234 hours for sides to finish talks in Cairo

“In response to violation by the Hamas movement of the ceasefire conditions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon gave the order to resume strikes against terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip,” a government source told Itar-Tass.

Formally, a five-day truce extended by a day at midnight ends at 00:00 Jerusalem Time [21:00 UTC]. No violations of the truce had been registered up until today’s launch of three rockets on Israel from Gaza. The parties to the conflict have been involved in indirect talks in Cairo designed to reach an agreement on a long-term cessation of fire.

The Haaretz newspaper reported citing government sources that Netanyahu earlier on Tuesday ordered his country’s delegation at talks on the settlement of the situation in the Gaza Strip to leave Cairo.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Islamist group Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) has already accused the Israeli side of violating the ceasefire regime. “Israeli bombings are designed to frustrate the Cairo talks,” a Gaza Islamists spokesman said.

According to media reports, Egyptian mediators are now trying to persuade the parties to the conflict to stop confrontation and resume consultations. According to some data, Israeli representatives have not yet left Cairo despite Netanyahu’s order.

Israeli-Palestinian relations grew sour after June 12, 2014, when three Jewish teenagers were abducted in the West Bank. Later the teenagers were found killed. Israel accused Hamas militants of committing the crime.

On July 8, 2014, the Israel Defense Forces announced the start of the Protective Edge operation in the Gaza Strip against Hamas militants.

Israelis and Palestinians have repeatedly agreed on a temporary ceasefire with Egypt’s mediation. A regular five-day truce was agreed upon on August 14.

Some 2,000 Palestinians have been killed and about 9,000 wounded in Gaza since the start of Operation Protective Edge. A total of 64 Israeli servicemen have died in fighting in the enclave. Three civilians have been killed in rocket attacks on Israel.

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Middle East and North Africa Palestine Israel Gaza Strip

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Russia maintains position on 'buffer zone' in Ukraine to counter missile threats

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