As Rockets Are Fired From Gaza, Israel Recalls Delegates From Egypt

(New York Times) JERUSALEM — Three rockets fired from Gaza struck southern Israel on Tuesday, breaking a cease-fire, drawing Israeli retaliation and prompting Israel to recall its delegation from already fraught Egyptian-brokered talks in Cairo for an agreement to end the latest conflict.

The rockets landed in open ground near the cities of Beersheba and Netivot, causing no damage or injury, according to the Israeli military, which added in a statement that it was “targeting terror sites across the Gaza Strip” in response

Israel has repeatedly said it would not negotiate under fire. As a five-day cease-fire expired at midnight on Monday, Israeli and Palestinian officials had announced a 24-hour extension to allow the negotiations to continue.

“Today’s rocket attack on Beersheba is a grave and direct violation of the cease-fire to which Hamas committed itself,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli government. “This is the 11th cease-fire that Hamas has either rejected or violated,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket fire from Gaza. It was not clear whether Hamas, the militant group that dominates the Palestinian coastal enclave, was behind it, or a smaller group, with or without Hamas’s blessing.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have engaged in indirect talks in Egypt for about two weeks in an effort to find more durable solutions to end the monthlong hostilities, in which more than 1,900 Palestinians were killed as well as 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians, one of them a guest worker.