After three hours of a ceasefire for humanitarian purposes, IDF's military actions in Gaza resumed around 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, and Hamas fired rockets at Be'er Sheva.
The Security Cabinet issued a statement in which it clarified that the Prime Minister's positive assessment of the French-Egyptian ceasefire initiative did not mean that Israel accepted the proposal. Rather, the statement meant to convey that Israel is willing to accept those parts of the initiative which are aligned with Israel's interests, which are a halting of terror attacks and weapons smuggling from Sinai.
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Not all parts of the proposal accepted
"Israel is working to improve the security situation in southern Israel and thanks the Presidents of France and Egypt for their efforts to advance a solution that will stop the terror acts from Gaza and the smuggling of weapons," the cabinet communique read.
But the cabinet also made clear that all of the other parts of President Hosni Mubarak's statement are not accepted by Israel. These include his statement that Hamas would take part in a dialog after a ceasefire takes effect and that border passages between Gaza and Israel would reopen.
The cabinet decided to continue Operation "Cast Lead." The operations by ground, sea and air forces will go on in the coming days.
Israel will send a delegation to Egypt to hear the Egyptian suggestions.
Hamas rockets on Be'er Sheva
Hamas did not fire any rockets at Israel during the three hour "humanitarian ceasefire" but fired two Grad-type rockets at Be'er Sheva once the lull ended after 4:00 p.m. The rockets struck unpopulated spaces and caused no casualties or damage.
Javier Solana, the European Union's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, stated Wednesday that he will be meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak in an attempt to advance a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas.
In an interview with Voice of Israel government radio, Solana said that in order to achieve a ceasefire, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and there has to be some guarantee that Hamas won't reinitiate rocket attacks in the future.