Rockets Launched Morning after UNSC Call for Calm; Kerry “Made a Mess”

The night of the 20th day of fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip (Sunday night) passed without Hamas rockets squaring-off against Iron Dome interceptors in the skies above Israeli cities and towns. On Sunday evening, the United Nations Security Council issued a call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. But by 7am local time, the Hamas response to the UN was clear as Red Alert sirens sounded in the coastal city of Ashkelon. Efforts were being made to implement a ceasefire in time for the Muslim observance of Eid-A-Fitr, the weeklong celebration of the end of the holy month of Ramadan based on the Egyptian proposal that was accepted by Israel and rejected by Hamas more than a week ago. In the interim, US Secretary of State John Kerry again tried his hand at peacemaking, but has succeeded only in uniting traditional adversaries such as Israel’s political right and left in charging he made matters worse; and uniting Israel and the Palestinian Authority in charging that Kerry’s proposal would only strengthen Hamas and the Qatar—Hamas–Turkey axis that stands in opposition to the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and presumably, the US. Kerry came under scathing attack in Israel for proffering a plan that dealt with all of the demands made by Hamas but failed to address any of Israel’s concerns. Ari Shavit, Israel’s leading columnist with the liberal newspaper Haaretz, wrote, “If Israel is forced to ultimately undertake an expanded ground operation in which dozens of young Israelis and hundreds of Palestinian civilians could lose their lives, it would be appropriate to name the offensive after the person who caused it: John Kerry.”