Thursday February 19, 2009

Hours after the Israeli cabinet decided not to enter a truce deal with Gaza-based resistance factions, Israeli tanks rolled into eastern Gaza city and opened heavy random fire on Palestinian residents in southern Rafah city.

The Alqassam brigades, armed wing of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza, said in a statement emailed to media outlets, that the Alqassam fighters defended against Israeli tanks advancement into the eastern parts of Gaza city, with no causalities reported.

Also on Thursday morning, Israeli tanks opened heavy random fire on Palestinian residential houses in the Rafah city in southern Gaza Strip. Witnesses said that the tanks, stationed near the Kerem Shalom crossing, opened fire abruptly in the area but with no causalities reported.

Israeli media sources reported earlier on Thursday that an Israeli army unit on the Gaza-Israel border lines in southern Gaza, spotted, wounded and arrested a Palestinian, while attempting to plant an explosive device near the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Speaking yesterday to IMEMC, spokesperson for Hamas in Gaza, Khalil Abu Leila, considered the Israeli cabinet decision regarding an Egyptian-mediated truce as 'sabotaging Tahdiya (truce) efforts in the region.

" At any rate, the Palestinians have a sole option: defending themselves. And if the Zionists attempt to re-attack, they will find a high level of readiness by Palestinian factions to defend their people and themselves".

Abu Leila added that any truce deal with Israel should be based on reopening Gaza crossings and that the soldier Gil'ad Shalit can be released within a prisoner swap deal that would ensure the freedom of 1400 Palestinian prisoners out of 12,000 others, being jailed by Israel.

Soldier Gil'ad Shalit was captured by Hamas in June2006 during a cross-border attack in southern Gaza. Since then, Egyptian mediation efforts have failed to reach a prisoner swap deal.

Hamas negotiators have discussed in Cairo possible ceasefire declaration for a period of 18 months, in return for reopening six Gaza crossings and lifting a 20-month-old Israeli blockade of the coastal enclave.

Such developments come on the heels of the recent Israeli war on Gaza, which was launched on December27 of last year, one week after a six-month-long Egyptian-mediated truce deal with the Palestinians came to an end.