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"GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip \u2014 The Israeli military has resumed its attacks on Gaza after Hamas leaders violated a cease-fire proposal from Egypt. \nUnder the Egyptian plan, proposed late Monday, a 12-hour period of de-escalation was to begin at mid-morning Tuesday. Egypt presented the plan in order to end a week of heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip that has left at least 185 people dead and more than 1,000 wounded. \nSee also: The People of Gaza and Israel Document Their Terror\nBoth sides initially said they were seriously considering the proposal. \nIsrael accepted the cease-fire proposal. However, senior Hamas officials rejected the proposal, saying they weren't consulted. Meanwhile, Gaza militants met Egypt's call for a quick truce with repeated rocket fire on Israel. \n\nPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel would strike even harder if Hamas rejected the Egyptian cease-fire deal. Hamas police spokesman Eyad Bouzam reported an Israeli strike Tuesday on an apartment building in northern Gaza.\n\nEgypt's Foreign Ministry announced the three-step plan starting at 9 a.m. local time (2 a.m. EDT) with a cease-fire to go into effect within 12 hours of \"unconditional acceptance\" by the two sides. That would be followed by the opening of Gaza's border crossings and talks in Cairo between the sides within two days, according to the statement.\nGaza's crossings should be opened for people and goods \"once the security situation becomes stable,\" according to a copy of the proposal obtained by The Associated Press.\nThe late-night offer from Egypt marked the first sign of a breakthrough in international efforts to end the conflict, and it was one that President Barack Obama praised as well. At a White House dinner celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Obama said he was hopeful that the plan can restore calm in the wake of a deadly wave of violence. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was expected in the region Tuesday.\nThe fighting\nIsrael launched the offensive July 8, saying it was a response to weeks of heavy rocket fire out of Hamas-ruled Gaza. \nIsraeli bombings have destroyed apartment buildings and sparked fear among residents in Gaza. \n\nThere have been no Israelis killed, although several have been wounded by rocket shrapnel, including two sisters, ages 11 and 13, who were seriously hurt Monday. \nAhead of the Egyptian announcement, there appeared to be no slowdown in the fighting, with Hamas for the first time launching an unmanned drone into Israeli airspace that was shot down.\nThe Israeli military said three rockets were fired at the southern city of Eilat early Tuesday morning, lightly injuring two people and sparking a fire. The military said it did not immediately know who was behind the rocket fire. Previous rocket attacks on Eilat were from radical Islamic militants in the neighboring Sinai Peninsula.\n\nA Palestinian inspects the rubble from a damaged house following an overnight Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Tuesday, July 15, 2014. Image: Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated PressThe violence followed the kidnappings and killings of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last month, as well as the subsequent kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian teenager in an apparent revenge attack, along with Israeli raids against Hamas militants and infrastructure in the West Bank.\nEgypt's involvement\nWith the death toll mounting, both sides have come under increasing international pressure to halt the fighting.\nEgypt Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said there is \"no alternative but return to the truce\" of November 2012, and added that Egypt contacted all the parties, including the Palestinian leadership, different Palestinian factions, and Israeli authorities in addition to Arab and international parties. Such contacts led to shaping up the proposal, which called for cease-fire.\n\"Egypt stresses the international responsibility toward what is happening in Palestine,\" he said.\nAs the first Arab state to reach peace with Israel, Egypt often serves as a mediator between Israel and Hamas.\nIn the 2012 fighting, Egypt's then-President Mohammed Morsi brokered a cease-fire, leveraging the influence his Muslim Brotherhood held with Hamas, its ally.\nThat deal included pledges to ease the blockade \u2014 promises that Hamas says were never kept. The blockade has greatly restricted movement through Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt \u2014 the territory's main gateway to the outside world \u2014 while Israel has restricted the flow of many goods, particularly much-needed construction materials, into Gaza. Israel says Hamas can use things like metal and concrete for military purposes.\nHamas has seen its position further weakened by last year's military coup in Egypt that ousted Morsi. Egypt's new leaders have cracked down on Hamas by nearly shuttering a network of smuggling tunnels along the border that were Hamas' key economic lifeline \u2014 and supply route for its weapons.\nHamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the rival forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. With the economy stagnant and Hamas unable to pay the salaries of its thousands of civil servants, the group recently agreed to back a unity government under Abbas' leadership. But Hamas remains in firm control of Gaza.\nIsrael and Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by the West, have battled many times. In the latest round, Israel carried out more than 1,300 airstrikes, along with attacks by naval gunships and artillery forces. Hamas fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.\nSee also: Are the Hamas Drones Real?\nIsraeli military officials say the airstrikes knocked out roughly a third of Hamas' rocket supply and delivered a blow to the group. It says that roughly 90 of the dead were wanted militants, and it has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.\nThe Hamas drone launched Monday into Israel marked the Islamic militant group's latest effort to catch the Israeli military off-guard. But like the others, it had little impact on the battlefield.\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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