Fighting resumes in Gaza neighborhood, two-hour truce collapses

GAZA CITY

A relative cries as he carries the body of three-year-old Palestinian girl Haniyeh Abu Jarad, who medics said was killed along with her father and six other members from the same family by an Israeli tank shell, before her burial during their funeral in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip July 19, 2014. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Fighting resumed in the Gaza neighborhood of Shejaia on July 20 less than an hour after a "humanitarian truce" was agreed to allow the evacuation of wounded from the area.
   
Israel's military said its forces were shot at shortly after the two-hour truce, facilitated by the Red Cross, had begun at 1:30 pm (1030 GMT), and that it had resumed combat operations. Hamas had no immediate comment on Israeli allegations it had breached the ceasefire.

"There is going to be a humanitarian window between 1:30 and 3:30 (1030 and 1230 GMT) in Shejaiya," an army spokeswoman previously said.
      
"The population is urged to evacuate within this timeframe to areas west of Shejaiya," the army said on its official Twitter page.        

"Any attempt to exploit this lull will be answered," it said.        

Hamas said it had agreed to the Red Cross proposal although it spoke of a three-hour lull.        

"The ICRC contacted (us) and offered to broker a three-hour humanitarian truce to enable ambulances to evacuate the dead and wounded and Hamas accepted it," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.

Hamas 'stubbornly' refusing ceasefire bid: Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday blamed Hamas for the continuation of the conflict in Gaza, saying the Islamic militants were refusing all ceasefire efforts.
      
"They've been offered a ceasefire and they've refused to take the ceasefire," Kerry told ABC television, adding that Hamas has "stubbornly" refused efforts to defuse the conflict "even though Egypt and others have called for that ceasefire."       

By its actions Hamas had "invited further actions" by the Israelis to stop the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, Kerry said.
      
"It's ugly, obviously, war is ugly. And bad things are going to happen. But they need to recognize their own responsibility," he added, referring to Hamas.
      
He urged Hamas to "be responsible and accept... a multilateral ceasefire without conditions."        More than 60 Palestinians were killed Sunday as Israeli forces pounded northern Gaza, sending thousands more fleeing in terror in the deadliest assault on the enclave in five years.

Israeli bulldozers destroy Hamas tunnels
      
Israel's military said early Sunday that it has widened its ground offensive by sending more troops into Gaza. Over the weekend, Israeli troops demolished more than a dozen tunnels that were used by Hamas to sneak into Israel and carry out attacks on soldiers and civilians, the army said.
     
Israeli soldiers uncovered 34 shafts leading into about a dozen underground tunnels, some as deep as 30 meters (yards), the military said. Israel views the tunnels as a strategic threat, and demolishing them is a high priority in their campaign.
     
Footage released by the Israeli military showed tunnels being demolished by army excavators and other equipment on the ground and by airstrikes from above.