The armed wing of the Palestinian movement Hamas declared a five-month truce with Israel over on Tuesday as it claimed to have fired dozens of rockets into the Jewish state on its Independence Day.
Israel vowed to ”confront terrorists” who fired the barrage, which caused no injuries or damage, on the 59th anniversary of the state’s creation.
”The truce no longer exists,” said Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. ”It’s the Israeli enemy that has not respected it and now it’s the turn of Palestinian groups.”
In a statement released in Gaza, the group said it fired nearly 30 rockets and 61 mortars into the Jewish state as it marked Independence Day ”to avenge the assassinations committed by the enemy”.
It marked the first time that the armed wing of Hamas, the senior partner in the Palestinian coalition Cabinet, claimed responsibility for rocket attacks since a November 26 truce took effect between the army and Gaza militants.
An army spokesperson said six rockets and eight mortar shells landed inside Israel on Tuesday, without causing injuries or damage. ”After the firing of mortars this morning, helicopters fired at open areas from where they were launched,” he said, adding that no one was reported hit in the strikes.
Israeli government spokesperson Miri Eisin said that the Jewish state ”will confront terrorists just as we will continue to seek moderates for dialogue with the Palestinians”.
”We will not allow the terrorist government of Hamas, who claimed responsibility for the firing, to define the future of the region,” she said.
Israeli army and public radio quoted hard-line Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman as calling for ”immediate measures to ensure the security of residents of southern Israel”.
Incursion
Israeli officials have warned repeatedly in recent weeks that the Jewish state could launch an incursion into Gaza. Eisin said no decision has been made, but that ”all possibilities are being explored”.
Hamas’s armed wing warned that any incursion would come at a heavy price. ”The Zionists will open the gates of hell if they launch an aggression against the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
”The enemy will pay a heavy price for all aggression against the Gaza Strip, which will turn into a cemetery for its soldiers,” Abu Obaida said.
Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghuti, an independent in the unity Cabinet, said Tuesday’s rocket firing was a result of Israeli operations in the Palestinian territories and called for the cycle of violence to stop.
”What is happening now is the direct result of the policy of Israel, which has carried out at least 128 incursions in the Palestinian territories these past several months,” he said. ”We have to stop the cycle of violence in the region and the Palestinian government has already proposed striking a deal on a global and reciprocal truce. This is the solution.”
Hamas’s armed wing said Tuesday’s rocket barrage was a response to the killing of nine Palestinians, including two teenagers and five militants, by the Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank and Gaza on Saturday and Sunday.
The deaths marked the bloodiest Israeli-Palestinian weekend since the November truce and sparked calls for retaliation from Palestinian militants.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, the army withdrew troops from the Gaza Strip and militants there were supposed to halt rocket fire into Israel.
Until Tuesday, the truce had largely held despite violations by both sides. — Sapa-AFP