Gaza Truce with "Israel" is Over: Hamas

 
Source: Al-Manar TV, 19-12-2008
Hamas said Friday that the its six-month truce with "Israel" has ended and the group will respond to any attack on the impoverished and besieged Palestinian territory.
"The ceasefire is over and there won't be a renewal because the Zionist enemy has not respected its conditions," Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said shortly after 6:00 am (0400 GMT).
Two rockets were fired by Palestinian fighters from the southern Gaza Strip into southern occupied territories following the announcement, an "Israeli" military spokeswoman said, but caused no injuries or material damage.
Both Hamas and "Israel" have said they would respond when attacked, but neither has yet said it will go on the offensive.
"We issue a warning to the Zionist enemy: all attacks against the Gaza Strip or any new crime will trigger a large-scale confrontation and we will retaliate very fiercely," said a statement on the website of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
"Israeli" War Minister Ehud Barak has indicated that "Israel" would respond if attacked, saying: "When the situation requires us to, we will act."
He raised the specter of "Israeli" military intervention, but also made it clear he saw no urgency.
"We are not afraid of launching a large-scale military operation in Gaza but there is no need to rush into it," he told journalists.
Mark Regev, spokesman for "Israel's" interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said the cabinet would discuss the situation on Sunday.
"Israeli" forces conducted several air strikes and killed one Palestinian while Gaza militants fired a barrage of rockets on Wednesday and again on Thursday.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will discuss the situation in Gaza when he meets US President George W. Bush in Washington on Friday.
Abbas has called for the truce to continue, but his authority has been limited to the occupied West Bank since Hamas ousted his forces and seized control of the coastal enclave in June 2007.