Hamas: "Israel" Seeks to Mar Gaza Truce

Source: Alalam.ir, 02-07-2008

GAZA STRIP, July 2--Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas has accused the Israeli regime of seeking to backtrack on an Egyptian-brokered truce deal, saying the regime will spare no effort to terminate the agreement.

Speaking to Alalam Tuesday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said: "'Israel' resorts to media propaganda and lame excuses to shirk its commitments" of opening Gaza crossings and putting an end to incursions into the coastal strip.

‘Israel' shut its cargo crossings with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, dealing a further blow to the truce.

Since the period of calm went into effect on June 19, the crossings have been closed for five days because of mounting tension over an ‘Israeli' attack in the West bank town of Nablus and the ensuing retaliatory rocket attack by Palestinian activists.

In its initial stage, the ceasefire aims to bring an end to fighting that has killed seven Israelis and more than 400 Palestinians since last year.

The deal also obliges ‘Israel' to ease its blockade of the coastal strip, where alomost 1.4 people are reeling under the stifling siege imposed after Hamas took control of the area last year.

Barhoum accused ‘Israel' provoking Palestinians to fire rockets to the occupied territories.

Talal al-Oukel, a Palestinian analyst, also told Alalam that ‘Israel' "keeps the crossings closed on different pretexts which shroud the ‘Israel's' commitment to articles of the truce deal in uncertainty."

Al-Oukel was downbeat about the truce, predicting that ‘Israel' would stage fresh aggressions on Gaza, without elaborating.