Hamas denies launching rockets into Israel during truce
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E-mail Xinhua, August 20, 2014
The Islamist Hamas movement denied on Tuesday firing four rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel, holding the Jewish state responsible for the ongoing escalation.
Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said in an emailed press statement that "Hamas doesn't have any information on launching any rockets from Gaza."
"The Israeli occupation is aiming through this escalation in the region to abort the talks in Cairo," he said, adding "The occupation is fully responsible for this escalation and all the consequences that would come out of it."
A 24-hour cease-fire agreement reached in Cairo between Israel and the Palestinians was violated when unidentified militants fired rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Israeli war jets responded by striking the densely-populated enclave.
Eyewitnesses said that three rockets were fired on Tuesday afternoon. Israeli Radio reported that the three rockets landed in an empty area near the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheba.
Later, security officials in Gaza said that Israeli war jets carried out several successive airstrikes on northern, central and southern Gaza Strip, adding that several huge explosions were heard in the enclave.
Ashraf al-Qedra, the health ministry spokesman in Gaza told reporters that five Palestinians, including two children were injured in one of Israel's airstrikes on Rafah town in Gaza's southeast.
The renewed fighting between the two sides came as Egypt has been hosting indirect talks between Israel and a Palestinian delegation representing Islamist and national factions, including Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
Officials and reports coming from Cairo say that reaching a permanent cease-fire is unlikely due to the stark differences between the two sides.
"If Netanyahu doesn't understand well the message and the demands of Gaza through the political language of negotiations in Cairo, we know very well the way that obliges him to understand," Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman of Hamas movement, said in an emailed press statement.
The Palestinians are demanding a complete lifting of Israel's blockade, which has been imposed on the Gaza Strip after Hamas' violent takeover of the territories in 2007. Israel has demanded that Hamas should be completely disarmed and the Gaza Strip demilitarized.
Abu Zuhri blamed Israel for the stalemate in the negotiations.
"The occupation is wasting opportunities and should stop playing the game of time. Hamas reiterates its readiness to deal with all possibilities and any development," he added.
Israel began its large-scale ground and air offensive on the Gaza Strip on July 8 purportedly to rein in Gaza militants and stop rocket fire targeting Israel. Around 2,016 Palestinians, most of whom are civilians, and 68 Israelis have since been killed during the military campaign, while more than 10,000 Palestinians have been wounded.
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