Hamas: Battleground truce with Israel

Hamas has renewed its commitment to defend the Palestinian people, reportedly stressing that they will decide the time, place and the proper way to resist occupation. Yahya Moussa, a Hamas leader, said: “We communicate with all political parties, from Egypt all the way up to the international organisations, about how to curb the occupation and prevent its violations," according to a press statement on Wednesday. “The resistance factions are committed to defending the rights of the Palestinian people. They have the right to respond to the crimes of the occupation, by any means," he added. “It must pay the price for any attacks against us." Israel reportedly violated the ongoing makeshift truce, brokered with the help of Egypt, when the Israeli army opened fire on borders in the northern Strip, hitting a 21-year-old farmer, Mustafa Abu Jara, in Beit Lahia yesterday. Moussa claimed occupying forces regularly violate Gaza’s sovereignty. The Hamas leader meanwhile denied the existence of any agreements between Israel and the Palestinian resistance. Responding to Israeli allegations of tunnels between the two countries, thoroughfares allegedly intended to kidnap Israeli soldiers, Moussa said such claims were “not convincing.” “The occupation is always coming up with excuses to violate agreements and extend the remit of its attacks,” he claimed. An Israeli army spokesperson, Ovijaa Adraei, meanwhile announced the discovery of a tunnel on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip, claiming they would be used to kidnap soldiers. “The recent agreement with Israel, brokered by Egypt to end the aggression on Gaza, also obliges Egypt to be a guarantor and to intervene to stop any violations and attacks against the Palestinian people," Moussa added. "What exists now is a battleground truce which does not prevent the resistance from preparing itself.”