The Egypt-brokered Gaza truce seems already on its last legs just two days in, with Israeli warplanes continuing to pound sites in the strip, killing two people and wounding dozens of others in two separate raids.
Israeli officials confirmed the strikes, saying that the people were planning to launch rockets at southern Israel. Though it does not appear there were any rockets before the attacks, seven rockets did hit Israel after the attacks, doing no damage.
All indications out of Gaza are that Hamas is continuing to uphold the ceasefire, and that it is a Salafist group with ambitions toward being tied to al-Qaeda that is launching the actual rocket attacks.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor defended the attacks at the UN today, while condemning the rocket fire, saying Israel would ensure that “it will not be quiet in Gaza” so long as the rockets continue.
Israel breaks the truce yet again. Israel's biggest fear is peace as it would have to deal with Palestinians on an equal footing.
What truce? The Israelis are following a policy of "mowing the grass" articulated several months ago by Prof. Efraim Inbar and Dr. Max Singer in report titled "The Opportunity in Gaza" prepared for the Begin-Sadat Institute of Strategic Studies. It is a cynical policy of attacks on people, and infrastructure (what's left of it), as a way to keep the "open air prisoners" in Gaza in line, and to do it when everyone's attention is elsewhere- e.g., Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Libya, etc. The report can be accessed at: http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/docs/perspectives16…
(It is also discussed by Prof Paul Pillar in a Consortium News article titled: "Preparing to 'Mow the Grass' in Gaza" at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/03/17/preparing-to…
Another excellent source to consult for day to day violations by the Israelis is http://www.mondoweiss.net