IDF officials have denied reports that Israel plans to seek a two-day ceasefire in Gaza. Early on Tuesday evening several media outlets reported that Israel would negotiate a 48-hour cessation in hostilities in order to test Hamas and see if the group would stop its attacks. If attacks were to cease, Israel would consider a long-term ceasefire, they said.
According to the report, senior defense officials said the “Cast Lead” operation in Gaza had already been successful in showing Hamas that rocket attacks would not be tolerated. So far the operation has killed approximately 370 Gaza Arabs, most of them armed terrorists, and has demolished hundreds of targets, including Hamas training facilities, bomb labs and the houses of senior terrorists.
Hamas leaders rejected the ceasefire that was not offered, saying they would continue to fire rockets as revenge for the hundreds of terrorists killed in Israeli strikes since Saturday morning.
Several international organizations and foreign diplomats have proposed various ceasefire initiatives. The group Doctors Without Borders has proposed a brief “humanitarian ceasefire” to allow medicine and other medical supplies into Gaza. Israel has allowed trucks carrying medical supplies to enter Gaza despite the ongoing operation.
IAF planes blasted the Gaza-Egypt border on Tuesday night, demolishing dozens of smuggling tunnels. No deaths were reported in the barrage. The bombing run was not the first attack on smuggling tunnels; on Saturday, the IAF demolished a Hamas building in Rafiah with a bomb so powerful that the shock waves caused many tunnels to collapse.
Gaza terrorists continued to fire rockets at Israeli cities on Tuesday night, and succeeded in hitting Ashdod. No injuries were reported in the attack, but several people suffered shock.