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| JERUSALEM — Egypt’s proposal for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas collapsed Tuesday only a few hours after the Israelis had accepted it, as Palestinian militants in Gaza launched a barrage of rockets and Israel resumed its airstrikes. The Israeli authorities said a Palestinian attack caused the first Israeli fatality in the eight-day-old military confrontation, in which Israeli bombings have killed nearly 200 Palestinians. | JERUSALEM — Egypt’s proposal for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas collapsed Tuesday only a few hours after the Israelis had accepted it, as Palestinian militants in Gaza launched a barrage of rockets and Israel resumed its airstrikes. The Israeli authorities said a Palestinian attack caused the first Israeli fatality in the eight-day-old military confrontation, in which Israeli bombings have killed nearly 200 Palestinians. |
| Israel announced at 9 a.m. Tuesday that it had accepted the Egyptian initiative unilaterally, but abandoned it after nearly 50 rockets were lobbed into Israel from Gaza in what was assumed to be a rejection by Hamas and its affiliates. By 3 p.m., Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, confirmed that “we’ve resumed some striking in Gaza.” | Israel announced at 9 a.m. Tuesday that it had accepted the Egyptian initiative unilaterally, but abandoned it after nearly 50 rockets were lobbed into Israel from Gaza in what was assumed to be a rejection by Hamas and its affiliates. By 3 p.m., Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, confirmed that “we’ve resumed some striking in Gaza.” |
| The Israeli military said in later statements that its resumed aerial assaults had hit 30 targets, including 20 concealed rocket launchers, tunnels, weapons storage facilities and “operational infrastructure” of Islamic Jihad, a Gaza-based militant group aligned with Hamas. | The Israeli military said in later statements that its resumed aerial assaults had hit 30 targets, including 20 concealed rocket launchers, tunnels, weapons storage facilities and “operational infrastructure” of Islamic Jihad, a Gaza-based militant group aligned with Hamas. |
| By evening, the Israeli military said, 125 “rockets and mortars” had been fired from Gaza and that 20 had been intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, but that an Israeli civilian had been killed and an Israeli soldier wounded near the Erez crossing with Gaza. | |
| Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israel Police, said the civilian was a 37-year-old man who had volunteered to distribute food parcels to Israeli soldiers near the crossing, and who was critically wounded by mortar fire around 7 p.m. The man, whom Mr. Rosenfeld declined to identify, died shortly after in an Ashkelon hospital. | Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israel Police, said the civilian was a 37-year-old man who had volunteered to distribute food parcels to Israeli soldiers near the crossing, and who was critically wounded by mortar fire around 7 p.m. The man, whom Mr. Rosenfeld declined to identify, died shortly after in an Ashkelon hospital. |
| Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had said earlier that he would respond with force if the rockets did not stop. | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had said earlier that he would respond with force if the rockets did not stop. |
| “We agreed to the Egyptian proposal in order to give the opportunity to deal with demilitarization of the strip from missiles, rockets and tunnels through diplomatic means,” Mr. Netanyahu said after a meeting with the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “But if Hamas does not accept the cease-fire proposal, as it looks now, Israel will have all the international legitimacy in order to achieve the desired quiet.” | “We agreed to the Egyptian proposal in order to give the opportunity to deal with demilitarization of the strip from missiles, rockets and tunnels through diplomatic means,” Mr. Netanyahu said after a meeting with the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “But if Hamas does not accept the cease-fire proposal, as it looks now, Israel will have all the international legitimacy in order to achieve the desired quiet.” |
| Leaders of Hamas did not officially respond to Israel’s acceptance of the Egyptian proposal, which was aimed at halting the aerial strikes that began on July 7 and called for Israeli and Palestinian delegations to travel to Cairo within 48 hours to negotiate further terms. Islamic Jihad said in a statement that the Egyptian proposal did not “meet the needs of our people and the conditions of the resistance, which was not consulted.” | Leaders of Hamas did not officially respond to Israel’s acceptance of the Egyptian proposal, which was aimed at halting the aerial strikes that began on July 7 and called for Israeli and Palestinian delegations to travel to Cairo within 48 hours to negotiate further terms. Islamic Jihad said in a statement that the Egyptian proposal did not “meet the needs of our people and the conditions of the resistance, which was not consulted.” |
| Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader based in Cairo, said in a message posted on Twitter around the time the rockets were flying that the organization was still “consulting” and had “not issued an official position on the Egyptian initiative.” | Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader based in Cairo, said in a message posted on Twitter around the time the rockets were flying that the organization was still “consulting” and had “not issued an official position on the Egyptian initiative.” |
| A Twitter post, in Hebrew, by Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, took responsibility for the rockets that were fired at Israeli cities on Tuesday, adding, “We will continue to bombard until our conditions are met.” | A Twitter post, in Hebrew, by Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, took responsibility for the rockets that were fired at Israeli cities on Tuesday, adding, “We will continue to bombard until our conditions are met.” |
| The current hostilities, in which at least 185 Palestinians have been killed, are the third intense flare-up between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza in less than six years. They began more than two months after the spectacular collapse of American-brokered peace talks and a month after the swearing-in of a new Palestinian government that was based on a reconciliation pact with Hamas. | The current hostilities, in which at least 185 Palestinians have been killed, are the third intense flare-up between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza in less than six years. They began more than two months after the spectacular collapse of American-brokered peace talks and a month after the swearing-in of a new Palestinian government that was based on a reconciliation pact with Hamas. |
| Tensions had been rising since the June 12 abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank, which Israel blamed on Hamas, and the July 2 kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian 16-year-old in an apparent revenge attack by extremist Jews. | Tensions had been rising since the June 12 abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank, which Israel blamed on Hamas, and the July 2 kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian 16-year-old in an apparent revenge attack by extremist Jews. |
| On Tuesday, hospital officials in Gaza said they had admitted a man wounded in an Israeli strike after the cease-fire was supposed to have started. Lying on a stretcher at Shifa Hospital, the patient, Mahmoud Muhanna, 26, said he had been riding a motorbike to check on his family’s residence when an explosion flung him to the pavement, cracking his head. | On Tuesday, hospital officials in Gaza said they had admitted a man wounded in an Israeli strike after the cease-fire was supposed to have started. Lying on a stretcher at Shifa Hospital, the patient, Mahmoud Muhanna, 26, said he had been riding a motorbike to check on his family’s residence when an explosion flung him to the pavement, cracking his head. |
| He was admitted around noon, doctors said, and he said the explosion took place sometime after 11 a.m., although the Israeli military said it resumed its attacks only hours later; it was possible he was hit by an errant rocket fired from Gaza. “I heard there was a cease-fire,” he said, cringing as a doctor manipulated his leg. “I was fooled.” Still, Mr. Muhanna, asked if he still wanted a cease-fire to take hold, said, “Of course.” | He was admitted around noon, doctors said, and he said the explosion took place sometime after 11 a.m., although the Israeli military said it resumed its attacks only hours later; it was possible he was hit by an errant rocket fired from Gaza. “I heard there was a cease-fire,” he said, cringing as a doctor manipulated his leg. “I was fooled.” Still, Mr. Muhanna, asked if he still wanted a cease-fire to take hold, said, “Of course.” |
| Outside Shifa Hospital, which has treated many of the conflict’s worst casualties and become a focal point of mourning and defiance, several dozen people cheered as a rocket ripped skyward, leaving a white contrail. | Outside Shifa Hospital, which has treated many of the conflict’s worst casualties and become a focal point of mourning and defiance, several dozen people cheered as a rocket ripped skyward, leaving a white contrail. |
| “Ya Qassam, ya habib,” a few men chanted, referring with a term of endearment to the Hamas military brigades that fire the rockets. “Strike, strike Tel Aviv.” | “Ya Qassam, ya habib,” a few men chanted, referring with a term of endearment to the Hamas military brigades that fire the rockets. “Strike, strike Tel Aviv.” |
| In 2012, when an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire ended eight days of cross-border violence, the deal was celebrated as a Hamas victory with street parades, but on Tuesday, Hamas supporters viewed Egypt’s proposed truce with suspicion. Outside the hospital, a Hamas security officer, who gave only a nickname, Abu Mahmoud, pointed at the rocket and said, “This is our celebration.” | In 2012, when an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire ended eight days of cross-border violence, the deal was celebrated as a Hamas victory with street parades, but on Tuesday, Hamas supporters viewed Egypt’s proposed truce with suspicion. Outside the hospital, a Hamas security officer, who gave only a nickname, Abu Mahmoud, pointed at the rocket and said, “This is our celebration.” |
| He referred to the cease-fire proposal as “only a way for Egypt to save face” and said bluntly, “We don’t accept it.” | He referred to the cease-fire proposal as “only a way for Egypt to save face” and said bluntly, “We don’t accept it.” |
| Other residents in Gaza still held out hope for a cease-fire. “Who would want to be bombed?” said Dr. Ayman al Sahbani. | Other residents in Gaza still held out hope for a cease-fire. “Who would want to be bombed?” said Dr. Ayman al Sahbani. |
| The question, residents say, is where a cease-fire would lead, and whether it would bring any change to Gaza. The Palestinian enclave has been occupied since 1967, and now, despite the pullout of Israeli settlers and troops in 2005, its borders, airspace and seas are controlled by Israel. There are tough restrictions that have effectively amounted to a blockade, keeping the movement of goods and people to a trickle. | The question, residents say, is where a cease-fire would lead, and whether it would bring any change to Gaza. The Palestinian enclave has been occupied since 1967, and now, despite the pullout of Israeli settlers and troops in 2005, its borders, airspace and seas are controlled by Israel. There are tough restrictions that have effectively amounted to a blockade, keeping the movement of goods and people to a trickle. |
| “Every time they have a cease-fire, but then everything comes back: the siege, the closures,” said Wedad al-Jarba, who was at the hospital, where her two-and-a-half-year-old grandson, Maher, was being admitted with a skull fracture. Israel “never agreed on anything real,” she said. | |
| Maher was injured when an explosion struck, hours before the pause in fire was to have taken effect, and he tumbled down 11 steps. He was first taken to a hospital in central Gaza, but had to be moved because it lacked the ability to perform a CT scan, due in part, doctors said, to the budget crisis and import restrictions. | Maher was injured when an explosion struck, hours before the pause in fire was to have taken effect, and he tumbled down 11 steps. He was first taken to a hospital in central Gaza, but had to be moved because it lacked the ability to perform a CT scan, due in part, doctors said, to the budget crisis and import restrictions. |
| The Egyptian proposal, which was embraced by the United States, the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority, calls for border crossings into Gaza to “be opened,” and for the movement of people and goods to be “facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.” | The Egyptian proposal, which was embraced by the United States, the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority, calls for border crossings into Gaza to “be opened,” and for the movement of people and goods to be “facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.” |
| Some Israeli politicians criticized the cease-fire plan, saying that not enough damage had yet been inflicted on Hamas’s infrastructure and weapons caches. | Some Israeli politicians criticized the cease-fire plan, saying that not enough damage had yet been inflicted on Hamas’s infrastructure and weapons caches. |
| Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister and a longtime advocate of a more intensive attack on Gaza, voted against accepting the Egyptian cease-fire proposal at an early Tuesday meeting of top ministers known as the security cabinet, as did Naftali Bennett, the economy minister. Mr. Lieberman said at an afternoon news conference that the current operation should only end with the Israeli military “controlling all of the Gaza Strip.” | Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister and a longtime advocate of a more intensive attack on Gaza, voted against accepting the Egyptian cease-fire proposal at an early Tuesday meeting of top ministers known as the security cabinet, as did Naftali Bennett, the economy minister. Mr. Lieberman said at an afternoon news conference that the current operation should only end with the Israeli military “controlling all of the Gaza Strip.” |
| “Israel must go all the way,” Mr. Lieberman told reporters. “A cease-fire is a tacit agreement that Hamas continue to build up its power.” | “Israel must go all the way,” Mr. Lieberman told reporters. “A cease-fire is a tacit agreement that Hamas continue to build up its power.” |
| Uri Ariel, the housing minister who is in Mr. Bennett’s far-right party, called the decision “a strategic mistake akin to building a train without paving the last kilometer.” On Twitter, he cracked that previous Israeli operations in Gaza had led to quiet for three years and 18 months, while the latest calm lasted an hour — “impossible to say there is no progress.” | Uri Ariel, the housing minister who is in Mr. Bennett’s far-right party, called the decision “a strategic mistake akin to building a train without paving the last kilometer.” On Twitter, he cracked that previous Israeli operations in Gaza had led to quiet for three years and 18 months, while the latest calm lasted an hour — “impossible to say there is no progress.” |
| And Isaac Herzog, the head of Israel’s Labor Party and leader of the opposition in Parliament, said: “If the cease-fire doesn’t lead to forward movement in the peace process it is useless.” | And Isaac Herzog, the head of Israel’s Labor Party and leader of the opposition in Parliament, said: “If the cease-fire doesn’t lead to forward movement in the peace process it is useless.” |
| Later Tuesday evening Mr. Netanyahu’s office announced that he had dismissed Danny Danon, his deputy defense minister, who has emerged as one of Mr. Netanyahu’s major critics over his handling of the Gaza crisis, describing it as a failure. “It is inconceivable that the deputy defense minister will attack the country’s leadership leading the campaign,” Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. | |
| Some analysts had said there were no downsides to Israel’s embrace of the cease-fire proposal: The Egyptian cease-fire would either lead to a genuine calm that benefits both sides or, if Hamas rejected the terms, provide Israel with cover to continue the conflict. | |
| “If Hamas looks at the cards it has been dealt — and they are very weak cards indeed — resuming military operations against Israel is not a good hand to play,” Michael B. Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, told reporters on Tuesday in a conference call organized by The Israel Project, an advocacy group. | “If Hamas looks at the cards it has been dealt — and they are very weak cards indeed — resuming military operations against Israel is not a good hand to play,” Michael B. Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, told reporters on Tuesday in a conference call organized by The Israel Project, an advocacy group. |
| Speaking before Israel abandoned the cease-fire, Secretary of State John Kerry, who was expected to return to Washington on Tuesday afternoon from Vienna, where he had been trying to iron out a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, criticized Hamas for continuing to fire rockets after the cease-fire was to have taken effect. | Speaking before Israel abandoned the cease-fire, Secretary of State John Kerry, who was expected to return to Washington on Tuesday afternoon from Vienna, where he had been trying to iron out a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, criticized Hamas for continuing to fire rockets after the cease-fire was to have taken effect. |
| “I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets, in multiple numbers, in the face of a good-will effort,” Mr. Kerry said at a news conference. | “I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets, in multiple numbers, in the face of a good-will effort,” Mr. Kerry said at a news conference. |
| Mr. Kerry said that it was important for Hamas not to “play politics” by taking military actions to build up its standing in the Arab world, and he also criticized the group for putting civilians in danger by conducting its operations in civilian neighborhoods. | Mr. Kerry said that it was important for Hamas not to “play politics” by taking military actions to build up its standing in the Arab world, and he also criticized the group for putting civilians in danger by conducting its operations in civilian neighborhoods. |
| He said that he had been prepared to fly to Cairo to help secure a cease-fire but had decided to return to Washington instead to give the Egyptian plan a chance. “I am prepared to fly back to the region tomorrow if I have to,” he said, if the Egyptian plan “does not work.” | He said that he had been prepared to fly to Cairo to help secure a cease-fire but had decided to return to Washington instead to give the Egyptian plan a chance. “I am prepared to fly back to the region tomorrow if I have to,” he said, if the Egyptian plan “does not work.” |