MIDDLE EAST:The first public signs of division within the Hamas movement emerged yesterday when the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement fired rockets from Gaza into Israel and announced the end of a ceasefire.
A spokesman for the Hamas-dominated government, however, said it wanted the ceasefire with Israel, which has lasted six months, to continue. Several mortars and crude rockets were fired early yesterday from the Gaza strip as Israelis celebrated their 59th Independence Day. Nobody was injured but for the first time since the November ceasefire Hamas claimed responsibility.
Dozens of homemade Qassam rockets have been fired out of Gaza in recent months, but by other militant groups.
Abu Obeida, a recognised spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas, the Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades, told a Palestinian radio station that this marked the end of the ceasefire between Israel and the armed groups in Gaza. "The ceasefire has been over for a long time, and Israel is responsible for that," he said. "This is a message to the Zionist enemy that our strikes will continue. We are ready to kidnap more and kill more of your soldiers," he said.
Also yesterday, a Palestinian minister said he had information that the kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston was alive and in good health. Azzam al-Ahmad, the deputy prime minister, met the British consul-general Richard Makepeace in Ramallah yesterday to discuss the reporter, who was seized six weeks ago.
"The information we have indicates that Johnston is in good health," Mr Ahmad said. "All security services are pursuing extensive efforts to release Johnston."
Hamas militants were among several involved in the abduction of an Israeli soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit, from a post near Gaza in June last year. The soldier is still being held and is thought to be alive.
Yesterday's rocket attacks follow a weekend of violence in which nine Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank were killed by the Israeli military. Israeli military helicopters fired into the Gaza Strip yesterday after the rocket launches.
Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader and Palestinian prime minister, blamed Israel for increasing the violence. "We made great efforts at keeping the truce and there was a positive Palestinian position, but unfortunately this position was met by expanding the aggression against the Palestinian people," he said.
However, despite the threats from the Hamas armed wing, a spokesman for Mr Haniyeh's government said later that it wanted the ceasefire maintained. "The government reiterates its desire that the calm be preserved," the spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, said in a statement.
Hamas adopts a notably opaque decision-making process, but several leading Hamas figures have recently appeared to moderate their positions.
That seems to have provoked disagreement from hardliners, although Hamas leaders always deny any suggestion of disagreements.