Along with some of the most intense Israeli bombardment of the conflict, the opponents held their first serious talks on a new ceasefire in weeks, and Hamas demonstrated its ability to rocket Tel Aviv.
When dawn broke over Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, orange flashes of explosions and black smoke were visible. This was the area of the Gaza Strip that was most heavily bombed by Israel. Every few seconds, the sound of rattling gunfire was broken by the booms of air strikes and the roaring of planes overhead.
Sirens cried out and rockets burst overhead in Tel Aviv, the commercial hub of Israel, only to be stopped by Israeli defenses.
Israel’s Magen David Alom ambulance service said there were several impact points but no initial word on casualties.
The armed wing of Hamas said it had fired the salvo in response to Israeli killing of civilians. But with the group’s leader in Cairo for truce talks, the attack seemed clearly timed to send a diplomatic message that 10 weeks of war that has laid waste to much of Gaza had failed to destroy the group’s strike capability.
