A short-lived "humanitarian truce" between Tel Aviv and Hamas was broken Sunday afternoon with the resumption of fighting in the neighborhood of Shejaya, according to Agence France Presse.
In less than an hour after the so-called ceasefire was implemented, Israel's military said that its personnel were shot at in Shejaya, and thus resumed fighting accordingly.
Hamas did not provide any immediate comment regarding the Israeli allegation.
The ceasefire, facilitated as requested from the International Committee of the Red Cross, was set to last from 1:30-3:30 pm in the Shejaya neighborhood. Both sides confirmed that they had accepted the request.
"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, as reported by AFP.
Abu Zuhri also noted that Tel Aviv initially refused the ceasefire, but then agreed to a shortened truce (i.e. a two-hour rather than a three-hour ceasefire).
ICRC, however, refused to confirm or deny the Hamas report to AFP, saying only: "We have been making every effort to ensure ways to evacuate the dead and the wounded."
More than 50 Palestinians have been killed in Shejaya, accoridng to AFP's health officials' sources, and over 400 have been killed throughout the Strip. Thousands have been wounded.
Emergency services have not been able to access areas to properly care for the wounded, or even take care of the dead bodies covering the streets, due to the intensity of the bombardment on the Strip, according to an AFP correspondent.
