Palestinian Militants Reject Truce Offer To Israel
Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer Gaza (AHN)-Hamas militants distanced themselves from a ceasefire offer that the Palestinian government led by the Islamist group made to Israel, while other armed groups also spurned the proposal. Hamas's armed wing scrapped a 16-month truce, conditional on Israel stopping raids and air strikes in Gaza and the West Bank, a week ago and soon after launched a barrage of makeshift rockets at the Jewish state from the Gaza Strip. But a government spokesman made a new ceasefire offer on Thursday. Sami Abu Zuhri, official spokesman for the Hamas movement, says the ceasefire offer announced by cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad in an interview with Israel Radio represented the government, and not the militant group itself. However, according to Reuters, Israeli officials have not commented on the ceasefire offer. The Jewish state regards Hamas as a terrorist organization and along with the United States and the European Union has imposed an economic embargo on the new government. Meanwhile, Israel has threatened to target top Hamas leaders-possibly including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh-if rocket fire continued. Launchings have dropped sharply in the past two days. Justice Minister Haim Ramon says on Israel Radio, "Very tough messages were relayed to Hamas that it's political leadership-if Hamas is involved in rocket fire-will not be immune. We will strike them too. |
