Smoke rises from Gaza Strip on May 29, 2018. Palestinian militants fired dozens of mortars, projectiles and rockets into Israel throughout Tuesday before Israel launched a wide-scale airstrike on Gaza, as tensions rise following weeks of lethal Israeli fire at Gaza protestors. (Xinhua/JINI)
Israeli officials said on Wednesday that no agreement with Hamas on a cease-fire in Gaza has been reached yet.
Khalil al-Haya, a senior Hamas official, said on Wednesday that Hamas agreed to an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire "after the resistance succeeded in warding off (Israel's) aggression." He said that militant groups in the Gaza Strip will follow the agreement as long as Israel does.
The Israeli government did not officially announce that it agrees to the terms and a military spokesperson told Xinhua that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would not comment on the reports of a possible cease-fire.
Israel's Education Minister Naftali Bennett, also a member of security cabinet, told Israel's Army Radio that no such agreement has been achieved yet.
Commenting on the possibility of a cease-fire, Israel's Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said "it all depends on Hamas. If it continues (to attack), I don't know what its fate will be."
Overnight, Israel launched a new airstrike on the Gaza Strip, attacking dozens of Hamas sites.
A statement released Wednesday by the military said fighter jets, combat helicopters and other aircraft struck some 25 sites belonging to Hamas, an Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip.
"The targets included drones warehouses, a workshop for manufacturing of rocket and rockets engines, an advanced naval weapon, military compounds, training camps, and sites for weapons manufacturing," the statement read.
Overall, according to the Israeli military, 65 targets across Gaza were struck since the attack began on Tuesday.
Sirens were heard in several locations across southern Israel. The military said its Iron Dome anti-missile system downed most of the projectiles but a rocket hit a home in a community in the regional council of Eshkol, without causing injuries.
The violence was part of a serious escalation in the area of the fence separating between Gaza and Israel over the past months. Israeli forces have killed at least 121 Palestinians in Gaza since weekly demonstrations started on March 30.
