Palestinian armed groups in Gaza remain committed to a truce with Israel if the Jewish state reciprocates, Hamas's Gaza leader said today.
"I have met with armed factions over the past two days and they stated their position clearly: they are committed to calm as long as [Israel] abides by it," said Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's most senior representative in Gaza.
Haniyeh, who was speaking after prayers today in Gaza, also sought to calm tensions which have arisen with Egypt following a breakdown of reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah which the Egyptians have been mediating.
However, militants fired a rocket and two mortars on Israel, continuing an almost daily series of attacks over the past 17 days, none of which has inflicted major casualties.
Both Israel and Hamas have sent signals they want to restore the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, which began on June 19th and calls on Hamas to halt rocket fire and other attacks against the Jewish state.
It also demands Israel gradually ease the blockade it tightened on the Gaza Strip more than a year ago after Hamas Islamists routed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's more secular Fatah forces in the impoverished territory.
Israel closed the Gaza border on November 4th, cutting food and fuel supplies, when its troops raided the coastal enclave to destroy what the army described as a tunnel built by militants to kidnap Israeli soldiers. The raid was followed by militant rocket and mortar fire.
Over the last two weeks of cross-border fighting, more than a dozen Palestinian militants have been killed and scores of rockets and mortar shells have been launched at Israel.
On Friday, Gaza militants fired one rocket towards the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, northeast of the Gaza Strip, and two mortar shells at troops operating along the border, an Israeli army spokesman said.
Reuters