Hamas militants vow to renew attacks on Israel

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 6/9/06 | Nidal al-Mughrabi

[NormsRevenge]

GAZA (Reuters) - Islamic militant group Hamas called off a 16-month-old truce with Israel on Friday after Palestinians said Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip killed 10 people, including three children.

Hamas, which has run the Palestinian government since March, spearheaded a suicide bombing campaign during a Palestinian uprising that broke out in 2000.

There was no immediate comment from Israel or from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been in a power struggle with Hamas since the Islamist group won Palestinian parliamentary elections in January.

"The Israeli massacres represent a direct opening battle and that means the earthquake in the Zionist cities will resume and the herds of occupiers have no choice but to prepare the coffins or the departing luggage," Hamas's armed wing said in a statement.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli air strikes and artillery fire killed 10 Palestinians, including three children on a crowded Gaza beach, the highest Palestinian death toll in a single day since late 2004, Palestinian officials said.

Seven people, including five from the same family, were killed in a shelling of the beach, which Palestinian sources said came from Israeli ships.

The three children died while playing in the sand while their sister, who had been swimming, survived.

About 20 more people were injured in the attack, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called "a bloody massacre." The Israeli army said it would investigate the shelling.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who is also the Hamas leader and a political opponent of Abbas, called the deaths a "war crime" and urged Jordan and Egypt, both mediators in past Israeli-Palestinian talks, to intervene.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri confirmed the militant group would renew its attacks.

"I believe that amid the continued bloodshed of our people and the horrific images of massacres, there is no place for silence," Abu Zuhri said.

ARMY INVESTIGATING

The Israeli army initially said its ships had fired shells at militants who launched rockets against the Jewish state after Israel's killing of a top militant who also served as a senior security chief appointed by the Hamas-led government.

Israeli Military Southern Command Chief Yoav Galant said the army suspended its artillery shellings and was investigating the killings on the beach. He said he regretted any civilian deaths.

"We did not fire into a place where there were innocents," Galant told reporters in a conference call. "We are exploring two possibilities -- a wrongly aimed artillery shell or an independent incident we were not involved in."

He did not say who else may have been behind the killings.

The rising death toll stoked tensions as Haniyeh made a last-minute appeal to Abbas to abandon a proposed referendum on statehood that would implicitly recognize Israel. The Hamas militant group is sworn to destroying the Jewish state.

An Israeli air strike on a car killed three Palestinian civilians in Gaza, medics said, minutes after Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) gunmen fired rockets into Israel in response to the killing overnight of Jamal Abu Samhadana, a PRC militant group leader.

The army said the dead were involved in rocket attacks.

The PRC, a coalition of militants, has spearheaded rocket attacks from Gaza since Israel quit the territory last year after 38 years of military rule.

Friday marked the largest number of Palestinians killed by Israel since December 2004, when an Israeli raid in Gaza aimed at stopping rocket launchers killed at least nine Palestinians.

Haniyeh called for Abbas to back down for the sake of Palestinian unity after the killing of Abu Samhadana. Abbas aide Saeb Erekat brushed aside Haniyeh's appeal.

Abu Samhadana, who topped Israel's wanted list for his role in a more than five-year Palestinian revolt, was the first Hamas government appointee to be killed by Israel since the Hamas group took control of the Palestinian Authority.

Abbas is expected to issue a presidential decree on Saturday that will call for holding a referendum on the statehood proposal by July 31 because Hamas has refused to back it.

Haniyeh said it had "no legal and constitutional basis" and urged Palestinians to stop debating the issue.

The proposed manifesto implicitly recognizes Israel by calling for a Palestinian state on all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel captured

[NormsRevenge]

An Israeli navy vessel shells a beach in the northern Gaza Strip. Seven members of a Palestinian family, including three children, were killed on a day out at the seaside in the Gaza Strip when they came under fire from Israeli gunboats and artillery.(AFP/IDF)

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A handout photograph released by the Israeli army shows smoke billowing at the northern Gaza seafront following shelling by an Israeli naval vessel. Seven Palestinians, including three young children, were killed while on a day out at the seaside in the Gaza Strip when they came under fire from Israeli artillery.(AFP/IDF-HO)

[goldstategop]

Its called collateral damage. The deaths of innocents are always regrettable in wartime. There is no way, unfortunately to completely spare them when when hitting an enemy target.

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")

[edpc]

Islamic militant group Hamas called off a 16-month-old truce with Israel on Friday.....

How can you have a truce when, during that time, you are firing rockets at random intervals into Jewish territory? They can vow all they want. It seems like there's a lot of room for advancement in Hamas. Every week, they need a new leader.

[edpc]

The deaths of innocents are always regrettable in wartime.

Especially when the enemy makes a point of placing themselves among non-combatants.

[colonialhk]

Very good point. The experiment of a responsible government in the territories has failed.

[Reactionary]

I see the libbies are once again standing astride corpses and proclaiming the Jew-hate of the Arab fanatics.

It's what they do, the great self-styled "moralists" of the modern age.

[KarlInOhio]

How can you have a truce when, during that time, you are firing rockets at random intervals into Jewish territory?

I think it is a case of tag-team terrorists. One group calls a truce, while all the other ones are shooting. The UN can then point at the one calling the truce and say how good they are for asking for peace.

Kind of like pro wrestling where one of the bad guys is standing there trying to look innocent, while his partner is picking up a chair to cold-cock someone. An the referee (the UN) is just as clueless.

[edpc]

Hamas armed wing threatens to resume attacks against Israel... Developing...

Just a line on Drudge right now. They don't get to stories as quickly as they used to.

[edpc]

Well, they must be holding "fire sales" to other terrorist organizations and unloading their Qassams during the "truce" periods. I would think that makes them just as guilty.

[The Blitherer]

"the earthquake in the Zionist cities will resume and the herds of occupiers have no choice but to prepare the coffins or the departing luggage"

There was no immediate comment from Israel

The immediate comment should have been "Bring it, B*tch!"

[Diogenesis]

The terrorists at Reuters use the word "terrorist" to describe Hamas zero (0,zed,nada) times.
Militant is used seven times.

Is Reuters a terrorist organization. Most say, "YES".

Proof:

Terrorist Taliban commander Mullah Hayat Khan
has private meeting with Reuters terrorists who worship at his bloody feet,
in the Pakistan-Afghan border city of Chaman June 4, 2006.

[samadams2000]

Oh good...state sponsored terrorism. We've all been waiting for this. It makes the whole mess a target rich environment.

[bennowens]

Israel is being attacked by another country and should respond by massive strikes against the aggressor.

[frankiep]

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri confirmed the militant group would renew its attacks.

And Generalismo Francisco Franco is still dead.

[calex59]

Islamic militant group Hamas called off a 16-month-old truce with Israel on Friday after Palestinians said Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip killed 10 people, including three children.

How can the MSM slimeballs say sh** like this with a straight face! Israel was not responding to attacks on them? When the hell did this so called truce take place? When was the last attack on Israel? These people should all be tried for teason and shot, and I am serious about that. They are traitors, enablers of violence, killers by default and should be eliminated from the earth. Unfortunately they won't be.