Israel Resumes Attacks on Hamas After Palestinian Rocket Fire Continues Despite Ceasefire Talks

Update 1:50 p.m. ET: An Israeli man died Tuesday after he was injured by a mortar fired from Gaza, making him the first Israeli killed in the latest conflict.

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Only six hours after suspending airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, the Israeli military announced Tuesday that it was resuming the military operation due to continuing rocket fire on Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry berated Hamas for continuing its attacks on Israeli communities and said he is willing to travel to the Middle East at any time to help.

"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," Kerry said in Vienna, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Kerry said Hamas is "purposely playing politics" with its rockets and blamed the group for using civilians as "human shields.”

"And that is why they are a terrorist organization," Kerry said.

Israeli bomb disposal experts and civilians inspect the damage after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip hit a yard outside a house in the southern port city of Ashdod, July 15, 2014. (David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images)

Kerry said he is ready to fly back to the Middle East “tomorrow” if needed. He had earlier canceled a trip to Egypt while ceasefire talks were underway.

The Israeli government early Tuesday morning voted to accept the ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt. Hamas rejected it, calling it “not acceptable.”

The Israel Defense Forces said 47 rockets were fired on Israel in the six hours after the government voted on the ceasefire.

Rockets were launched overnight Tuesday on the southern Israeli city of Eilat. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that they were fired from the Sinai Peninsula, where Egyptian authorities have been battling militant Islamist groups.

Israel launched Operation Protective Edge last Tuesday after sustaining weeks of rocket attacks on its cities and towns launched by terror groups in Hamas-ruled Gaza.