The Gaza truce is, for now, in tatters.  Hamas and Israel have withdrawn their negotiators after both sides went back to shooting missiles at each other.  Hamas confirmed it launched 50 rockets onto Israeli territory, and Israeli Defense Forces responded with missile attacks on at least ten “terror sites” in Gaza.

One man was slightly wounded but no significant damage was reported on the Israeli side.  Hamas said the wife and child of its military commander Mohammed Deif were among at least nine Palestinians killed in the Israeli raids.

It came as Israel and the Palestinians pointed fingers at each other for the failure of the Cairo ceasefire talks.  Lead Palestinian negotiator Azzam al-Ahmad from the Fatah movement in the West Bank blamed Israel for the failure to reach a deal.

“There was an Israeli decision to make the Cairo talks fail,” al-Ahmad said.

But Mark Regev, the Australian-born spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Hamas’ rockets had “made continuation of talks impossible” and “destroyed the premise upon which the talks were based”.

More than 2,000 Palestinians and 66 Israelis have died since Israel began its “Operation Protective Edge” offensive on Gaza on 8 July.