Just a day after Egypt's cease-fire proposal between Israel and Hamas fell apart, Israel launched an intense attack on the Gaza strip, targeting the homes of high-ranking Hamas leaders.

The death toll in the nine-day conflict jumped to 215 on Wednesday after at least seven Palestinians were killed during early morning attacks, reports Reuters. In addition, the home of Mahmoud Zahar, a key political figure in Hamas, was also destroyed.

According to the Gaza interior ministry, Israel targeted 30 houses, including the residences of senior Hamas leaders Jamila Shanti, Fathi Hamas and Ismail Ashkar. Plus, three members from the Abu Daqqa family were killed, while five victims suffered from injuries during an attack in Khan Younis, said the health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra, according to Al Jazeera.  Among the casualities included a 10-year-old boy and a 65-year-old woman.

Also on Wednesday, four boys were killed on a Gaza beach by an Israeli shelling, while Palestinian militants launched over 100 rocket missiles into Israel.

A senior Israeli official offered a sign of hope to the end of the violence later on Wednesday. He annouced that Israel agreed to a six-hour cessation of hostilities proposed by the United Nations for humanitarian reasons. It has not decided when the lull would start.  Meanwhile, the Islamist Hamas did not issue an immediate response.

On Tuesday, Israel's Security Cabinet approved a proposal by Egypt to end the violence with Hamas, however Israel officials say Hamas militants violated the proposed cease-fire and continued to launch rocket fire.  But Hamas says it rejected the proposal because it was not consulted and its demands were not being met.

"We did not receive any official draft of this Egyptian proposal," Sami Abu Zuhri said, adding that the plan was "not acceptable," according to Fox News.

The truce proposed by Egypt's Foreign Ministry was supposed to take effect on Tuesday at 9 a.m. local time (2 a.m. Eastern Time). However, within 30 minutes, a senior Hamas official said that the group had rejected the proposal. According to the Israel Defense Forces, Hamas fired 47 rockets were fired into Israel during the cease-fire period.

As a result, Israel's aerial strikes resumed about six hours later, around 3 p.m. (8 a.m. ET).

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying: "Hamas's rejection of the ceasefire gives Israel full legitimacy to expand the operation to protect our people. No country would sit idly by while its civilian population is subjected to terrorist rocket fire. Israel is no exception," reports The Guardian.