BICOM

At 8am precisely, as the formal 72-hour ceasefire ended, sirens wailed in southern Israel while rockets headed towards the border communities around Gaza and the city of Ashkelon. 18 or more rockets in more than three barrages have been fired this morning: two were intercepted above Ashkelon, 14 hit open areas, and two fell short and landed in Gaza.

The new attacks, claimed by the Iran-aligned Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, came despite serious attempts by Egypt and Israel to extend the temporary ceasefire to allow negotiations to proceed. Hamas, however, indicated that it would not extend the ceasefire unless all of its demands were met by this morning.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been inflexible over their demand. Palestinian Authority negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed threatened to leave the talks over their inability to compromise.

Reports from the negotiations suggested that Israel was willing to expand the Gaza fishing zone, discuss prisoner releases, and to open the Gaza borders under the supervision of an international force and aid reconstruction. Rumours even suggested flexibility on constructing a Gaza port, possibly in the context of an EU plan to prevent the rearming of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. However, Hamas’s position seems to be that all of its demands must be met, and it has refused to discuss disarmament, one of Israel’s key concerns.