Itongadol.- A series of explosions sounded in the greater Tel Aviv area on Tuesday evening as the Iron Dome shot at least three rockets fired from Gaza out of the sky.
The barrage of rockets set off sirens in the South and central areas such as Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and the surrounding areas as well as in Modi\’in and Shoham near Ben Gurion Airport. The Iron Dome also shot down a rocket in Ashkelon. Rockets were also fired at Dimona, the home of Israel\’s nuclear reactor.
One man was seriously injured by a mortar shell in a community bordering the northern Gaza Strip, Channel 2 reported.
The latest barrage of rockets came on a day which began with a security cabinet decision to accept an Egyptian ceasefire initiative. However. it soon became clear that Hamas did not recognize the ceasefire as rockets continued to rain down on southern Israel, the Shfela region and the Haifa area.
Israel refrained from responding to the Gaza rockets for some six hours to give Hamas a chance to accept the ceasefire before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave the order to resume strikes.
In an earlier barrage, a rocket landed in the courtyard of a house in Ashdod, while another rocket hit a warehouse in the Sha\’ar Hanegev Regional Council. No injuries were reported in the attacks.
The Iron Dome intercepted several rockets over Ashdod and at least one in Netivot. A soldier was lightly wounded by shrapnel in Sderot.
Hamas took responsibility for the rocket fire.
The Security Cabinet Sunday morning accepted the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire that, from Israel\’s perspective, went into effect at 9:00 am.
Rocket fire began less than an hour later, with 44 projectiles fired from Gaza into Israel eventually sparking the IDF\’s resumption of strikes at 3 p.m..
Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said earlier on Tuesday that the Islamist group had not received an official ceasefire proposal, and he repeated its position that demands it has made must be met before it lays down its weapons.
Hamas\’s armed wing, the Kassam Brigades, rejected the reported text of the truce deal, saying: "Our battle with the enemy continues and will increase in ferocity and intensity."