Hamas military calls off truce after 10 killed

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Hamas military calls off truce after 10 killed

CTV.ca News Staff
Updated: Fri. Jun. 9 2006 11:11 PM ET

The Hamas military wing called off its truce with Israel, after 10 Palestinians were killed by shells fired into a crowded beach in the Gaza Strip where a family was picnicking.

All of the dead are believed to be related.

The Hamas declaration raised the prospect of a new wave of bloodshed. "The earthquake in the Zionist towns will start again," said a leaflet distributed by the militants at a Hamas rally Friday night.

"The resistance groups ... will choose the proper place and time for the tough, strong and unique response."

The truce -- which Hamas has largely honoured -- was declared in February 2005.

Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, speaking at a hospital where victims were being treated called the deaths a "war crime."

He urged Jordan and Egypt, both mediators in past Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, to step in.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also condemned Friday's fatalities as a "bloody massacre" and urged the international community to intervene.

"There was quite a lot of blood. People are running around in confusion, children have been taken to the hospital,"

The Israeli army said its attacks targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip used by Palestinian militants to fire homemade rockets at Israel.

"They regularly and routinely will target sites that are used by militants for rocket attacks," said CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer, reporting from Jerusalem.

But one artillery strike appeared to go dramatically off course on Friday.

The army said it had determined that aircraft and gunboats had not fired the artillery that struck the picnic, but that ground forces might have been the source.

Israel carried out at least three air strikes, including one attack that killed three militants, after they fired a rocket into Israel.

The militants were identified as members of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a small group that is responsible for much of the rocket fire.

Israeli military chief Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz ordered a temporary halt on artillery strikes in the area while an investigation was conducted.

"We regret any harm caused to innocent civilians," said Capt. Jacob Dallal, an army spokesman. He said Israel was offering medical support to the wounded.

The attack comes one day after Jamal Abu Samhadana, a top Palestinian commander and leader of the PRC, was killed in an Israeli air strike.

He recently led the Hamas government's private militia.

Hamas, sworn to the destruction of Israel, considered the Thursday attack to be an assault on its government, and warned Israel that Samhadana's death would be avenged.

"His funeral was held today. Thousands of people packed into a soccer stadium, so what happened on the beach today has only inflamed the sense of rage there," Mackey Frayer said.

Hundreds of gunmen fired thousands of bullets into the air, chanting, "God is great'' and "Revenge, revenge.''

The mounting death toll stoked tensions as Haniyeh made a last-minute appeal to Abbas to abandon a proposed referendum in which Palestinians will decide whether they want a two-state solution with Israel.

Haniyeh wrote that the referendum would divide the Palestinian people and "carries many dangers."

"I'm afraid it will cause a historic rift that will hurt the Palestinian cause for decades to come," Haniyeh wrote.

But Abbas, who is eager to restart peace talks with Israel, was expected to announce on Saturday that July 31 had been set as the date for a national referendum.

"This would recognize Israel and its right to exist," Mackey Frayer said.

However, public opinion polls show the two-state proposal has widespread support.

"Israel has a right to exist, Israel has a right to exist..." -- I'm tired of this mantra. Why oh why does Israel have a "right to exist"? Could somebody explain that?