Hamas gunman in Gaza
Photo: Reuters
Site hit in IAF strike
Photo: AFP
Hamas insists: Ceasefire to end as scheduled
Islamist group's spokesman says truce to officially end Friday morning, adding 'it is the Palestinian nation's right to use all means necessary to defend itself'
Less than a day before the shaky ceasefire between Israel and the armed Palestinian groups in Gaza I set to expire, Hamas insists that it will not be extended.
Ismail Radwan, a spokesman for the Islamist group, said Thursday that the truce will officially end Friday morning, adding that "it is the Palestinian nation's right to use all means necessary to defend itself."
Israeli aircraft launched two nighttime strikes against terror infrastructure in Gaza for the first time in six months. A few hours later four Qassams were fired from the northern Strip toward the Negev region, but no injuries were reported.
A spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said the group was in no rush to reach new understandings with Israel. Abu Obeida said any ceasefire agreement would have to include an Israeli commitment to abide by all of its clauses.
Abu Abir, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, also said the truce was null and void as of Friday morning and that the armed Palestinian factions were no longer committed to it.
Despite the harsh rhetoric, Palestinian Authority officials and sources in Gaza have postulated that Hamas would not object to resume the discussions on a ceasefire under Egyptian mediation.
Hamas said any fresh agreement would have to include the opening of the Gaza goods crossings and the lifting of the Israeli blockade on the coastal enclave.
