April 25, 2007	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 07, 1428

GAZA CITY, April 24: The armed wing of the Palestinian movement Hamas declared a five-month truce with Israel over on Tuesday and 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 casualties or damage, on the 59th anniversary of the state’s creation.

Hamas said it was abandoning the Nov 26 truce following Israeli army raids over the weekend that killed nine Palestinians, including two teenagers and five militants, in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“The truce no longer exists,” Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said. “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 mortar rounds 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, had claimed responsibility for rocket attacks since the truce took effect between the army and Gaza militants.

An army spokesman said that “a large number” of projectiles were launched into Israel, with six rockets and eight mortar rounds striking without causing casualties or damage.

Israeli security sources said they suspected the operation could have been intended as a diversionary tactic aimed at capturing Israeli soldiers, as on June 25 when a conscripted corporal was seized in a cross-border raid.

But they did not specify whether there had been any such attempt on the ground to open fire or physically capture soldiers.

Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas said Israel bore the blame for the violence, after the deadly weekend army raids.

“There was a positive unified Palestinian position but, unfortunately, we were surprised by the expansion and escalation of aggression” by Israel, he told reporters in Gaza.

Government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said Israel “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.

Defence Minister Amir Peretz held an emergency security meeting in Jerusalem with the chief of staff and senior officers following the rocket firing.

“The Palestinian unity government will not be a political cover for any organisation and will not constitute an insurance policy to anyone,” his office quoted him as saying after the meeting.

A senior security official said “Israel views this morning’s incident as extremely serious and will take action against those involved at an adequate time and way, and with no compromises.” Israeli officials have warned repeatedly in recent weeks that the army could launch an incursion into Gaza. Eisin said no decision had been made, but that “all possibilities are being explored.” Hamas’s armed wing warned that any Israeli incursion would “open the gates of hell” and that Gaza would “turn into a cemetery for its soldiers.” Palestinian information minister Mustafa Barghuti, an independent in the unity cabinet, also blamed Israel for Tuesday’s rocket fire.

“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.” The Israeli raids on Saturday and Sunday were the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence since the November truce and sparked calls for retaliation.

—AFP