US Secretary of State John Kerry cancelled a trip to Cairo at the last minute Tuesday, then blamed Hamas for ignoring a ceasefire with Israel by bombarding Israeli cities throughout the day.
Dozens of rockets have battered Israeli cities since the ceasefire was due to begin at 9:00 this morning, striking as far as Zichron Yaakov, some 150 kilometres north of The Strip.
According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, Kerry told reporters in Vienna, “I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets in multiple numbers in the face of a goodwill effort to offer a ceasefire, in which Egypt and Israel worked together, that the international community strongly supports.
“Hamas is purposely playing politics” by continuing the rocket fire, using innocents as “human shields… against the laws of war… that is why they are a terrorist organization,” Kerry added
The paper said Kerry is prepared to return to the region in order to nurture a ceasefire deal, but at the moment he is scheduled to return to Washington after talks in Vienna with Iranian officials about that country’s nuclear program.