Israel freezes cease-fire talks with Palestine amid escalating conflict in Gaza

By Abdelraouf Arna'out

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel on Friday announced a freeze on cease-fire talks with Palestine amid the escalating conflict in Gaza, with Tel Aviv blaming Palestinian resistance groups for launching rocket attacks.

However, the Israeli army destroyed a home owned by the Palestinian "Bashir" family earlier in the morning on Friday, as Israeli raids on various locations in the southern Gaza Strip continued.

The Israeli side has informed Egyptian mediators of the cessation of cease-fire negotiations as the conflict between the Israeli military and Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza continues to escalate.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN quoted an official Israeli source as accusing the Palestinians of firing rockets after a 13-hour hiatus.

Separately, Israeli army radio reported that after an assessment session with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to halt talks at this stage as rockets are being fired.

According to the radio, Israeli fighter jets hit four military outposts of the Islamic Jihad group as well as mortar and rocket launch sites in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 31 people, including six children and three women, have been killed, and 93 others, including 32 children and 17 women, have been injured in the last four days of Israeli forces air attacks.

Israel's national emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, reported that a rocket on Thursday fired from Gaza struck a residential building in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, resulting in one fatality and five injuries.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara