The Israeli defence minister has hinted that Israel may renew its assassination policy against Hamas leaders – even those in government – after the Islamist group ended a 16-month-old truce by firing 25 rockets and mortar bombs at Israel. Asked by reporters at a base in southern Israel about targeting Hamas officials, Hamas, which now heads the Palestinian government, renewed cross-border rocket and mortar attacks on Saturday after seven people were killed on a Gaza beach on Friday in an attack blamed on Israel. Speaking at an army base near the Gaza Strip, Peretz said he sent a condolence message to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, expressing deep regret at the bloodshed on the beach but said a military probe into the cause of the explosion would be completed only in a day or two.
Al-Qassam Brigades, armed wing of Palestinian ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) reiterated Saturday that it is no longer abide by a truce with Israel, vowing to resume its attacks against the Jewish state. Palestinian security sources said that Israeli naval gunboats fired three shells at the beach of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip Friday afternoon, killing eight Palestinians and wounding 35 others. Meanwhile, Israel launched four airstrikes on suspected militants in the northern Gaza Strip in the same day, killing three Palestinians and wounding five others, security sources and witnesses reported.
Source: Aljazeera, Reuters and Xinhua
Leave Your Comments Below