Rockets 'fired from Gaza'
August 8, 2014
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said Friday that the rockets, which it blamed on Hamas "terrorists," had landed in the south of the country and caused no injures.
Egyptian officials are brokering indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians with the aim of reaching a long-term ceasefire.
Israel had earlier said it earlier it was wiling to prolong the current truce with Hamas "indefinitely," which is due to expire at 8:00 a.m. local time (0500 UTC) on Friday. However, the latest action increased fears that the current ceasefire between the two sides may not be extended.
Israel's Communications Minister Gilad Erdan told Israel Radio early Thursday that any rocket fire from Palestinian militants would be responded to with force. "The army would then resume operations and I think more decisively," he said.
Ending the blockade
Hamas has yet to say whether such an extension of the truce had been agreed to, but an official on the Egyptian negotiating team said a decision would be made before the deadline.
A spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, Ezzedine al-Qassam Bridgades, warned hours before the expiration of the ceasefore that fighting would continue if their demands, chief of which is ending Israel's blockade of Gaza, were not met.
"We will not accept an end to this battle without stopping the aggression, lifting the siege and the most important demand of building up a sea port for Gaza," the spokesman said in a televised address. "We will never accept less than that."
"If there is an agreement, it will be possible to extend the truce, but if there is not, we will ask the delegation to withdraw from the talks," he added.
Israel's bombardment of Gaza has killed nearly 1,900 Palestinians in four weeks. According to United Nations figures, more than 1,300 of the dead are civilians, including at least 429 children. A further 9,800 people have been wounded, and half a million of Gaza's 1.8 million residents have been displaced.
Sixty-four Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting, along with two civilians and a Thai national.
dr/av (AFP, dpa, AP)