First Israeli death of Gaza operation as mortar shell kills man at Erez Crossing

[link:http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Barrage-of-rockets-fired-from-Gaza-despite-Israels-acceptance-of-ceasefire-362839|]

A morning that began with Israel accepting an Egyptian-initiated ceasefire plan to end more than a week of hostilities with Gaza ended in tragedy, as Hamas rejected the truce and the conflict claimed its first Israeli victim on Tuesday.

Despite Israel's declaration that it was ceasing fire, Gaza terrorists continued to launch rockets on Israel throughout the day, eventually forcing the IDF to respond by resuming air strikes on Gaza. Shrapnel from a mortar shell killed a man at the Erez Crossing, who, according to Israeli media reports, was a Chabad rabbi who had volunteered to distribute food to soldiers in the dangerous area.

Simultaneously, a series of explosions sounded in the greater Tel Aviv area as the Iron Dome shot at least two rockets fired from Gaza out of the sky.

The barrage of rockets set off sirens in the South and central areas such as Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and the surrounding areas as well as in Modi'in and Shoham near Ben Gurion Airport. The Iron Dome also shot down a rocket in Ashkelon. Rockets were also fired at Dimona, the home of Israel's nuclear reactor.

Israel refrained from responding to the Gaza rockets for some six hours on Tuesday morning to give Hamas a chance to accept the ceasefire before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave the order to resume strikes.