Friday, July 11, 2008

IDF prepares for action as truce 'could be near its end'

From THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 9, 2008, by Yaakov Katz and AP:

Following a week of near-daily Palestinian violations of the Israeli-Hamas cease-fire, senior defense officials said Thursday that the truce could be in its final stages and that as a result the IDF was preparing for possible future incursions into the Gaza Strip.

"It is not clear how much longer the cease-fire will last and we need to be prepared for an operation in Gaza," a senior defense official told The Jerusalem Post shortly after two Kassam rockets struck the western Negev Thursday afternoon. ... Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Thursday evening Hamas said it had arrested the two men who had fired the rockets, according to an official from the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades. Reuters quoted the official as saying that Hamas's security forces had detained two of its members who were part of a Kassam launching squad.

...A senior Hamas leader confirmed on Thursday that his group will hold to the cease-fire and stop violators....

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