Hamas leader says it is still committed to truce with Israel

Ma'an – Hamas remains committed to its truce with Israel, a senior leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement, Mahmoud Zahhar, said Friday, despite the increase in rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.

"We declare our commitment to respecting the truce between us and the occupier," Zahhar told a gathering in the Gaza town of Khan Younis.

"Despite the sacrifices, we announce that we continue to respect the truce," said Zahhar, who is considered the most influential Hamas leader in Gaza.

And he called on Israel to reciprocate and "stop incursions [into Gaza], halt killings of Palestinians and lift the blockade" imposed on the coastal enclave.


Hamas, which controls Gaza, says it has observed a de facto truce with Israel since the January 2009 end of a 22-day Israeli offensive on the strip aimed at halting rocket fire by Palestinian militants.

Attacks have since been considerably reduced but more than 200 rockets and shells, most of them homemade, have been fired into Israel since early 2010, according to the Israeli military.

More radical groups have since last Sunday targeted southern Israel with 23 rounds of mortar fire and three rockets, one of which slightly wounded a small girl, the military said.

Israel, which holds Hamas to account, has urged the UN Security Council to issue a "clear and resolute" message to militants against firing rockets into its territory from Gaza, in a letter made public Wednesday.

In a tit-for-tat move, Hamas said it would appeal to the international body to act against the "threat of further aggression against the Palestinians."