An IAF fighter taking off. Photo: Yissachar Ruas/ Tazpit News Agency.

JNS.org – The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) resumed its air campaign against Hamas by hitting more than 30 targets in Gaza on Tuesday after the terrorist group rejected a cease-fire proposal by the Egyptian government.

“The [Israeli] cabinet took a decision to hold [our] fire. In light of the continuation of rocket fire by Hamas and other terror organizations, we are working as we have done in recent days—with force and against the components of Hamas’s operational infrastructure,” IDF Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Sami Turgeman said, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Meanwhile, after voting against the cease-fire with Hamas, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel should move to retake the Gaza Strip, which it evacuated in 2005.

“Israel must go all the way in Gaza. The world must give us its full backing to go all the way. An end result to the operation would see the IDF control Gaza,” Lieberman said at a Knesset news conference on Tuesday.

Former U.S. Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller told JNS.org that he believes Hamas is holding out for more substantial concessions from Egypt and Israel.

“Hamas needs several things and I don’t think they will give up without them,” Miller said. “They want their salaries paid; they want their prisoners released and some measure of openness on the borders crossings with Egypt and Israel.”

“Those demands were not made in the Egyptian proposal and some combination of them will need to be negotiated if we are going to see an end to this,” he added.