Amid increased tensions, Hamas calls on mediators to save Gaza truce

Holding Israel responsible for failing to fully implement the understandings, Khalil al-Haya, a senior Hamas official, warned that Hamas may be forced to respond to the alleged foot-dragging.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
AS WE stood on the border and looked across the field at the Gaza Strip, we saw the Palestinian flag fluttering.’ (photo credit: REUTERS)
AS WE stood on the border and looked across the field at the Gaza Strip, we saw the Palestinian flag fluttering.’
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Egyptian security officials are expected to visit the Gaza Strip to discuss ways of preserving the truce understandings between Hamas and Israel.
The planned visit comes amid increased tensions in light of continued projectile and incendiary balloon attacks from the Gaza Strip towards Israel.
Hamas officials claimed that Israel was searching for excuses to avoid the implementation of the truce understandings that were reached earlier this summer under the auspices of Egypt, the UN and Qatar.
Khalil al-Haya, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, on Thursday appealed to Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations to resume their efforts to prevent the collapse of the truce understandings with Israel.
Holding Israel responsible for failing to fully implement the understandings, al-Haya warned that Hamas may be forced to respond to the alleged foot-dragging.
He told the Jordanian al-Ghad TV network that the Egyptian officials’ visit to the Gaza Strip aims to consolidate the truce understandings and follow up on the situation on the ground.
The Hamas official dismissed Israeli charges that his movement and other Palestinian factions were responsible for the ongoing incendiary balloon and projectile attacks on Israel. He claimed that some Israeli farmers were behind the fires that destroyed their crops in order to get compensation from the Israeli government.
Al-Haya said that the Great March of Return protests along the Gaza-Israel border that began in March 2018 will continue until they achieve all their goals, particularly the lifting of Israel’s 12-year-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.
The organizers of the weekly protests announced that Friday’s demonstrations will be held under the banner “No the annexation of the West Bank.”
Another Hamas official, Fawzi Barhoum, held Israel responsible for the latest tensions after Israel struck Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip Thursday morning after the launching of a rocket towards Israeli communities.
The IDF said fighter jets “attacked an underground terrorist infrastructure in a military compound belonging to the Hamas terrorist group in the southern Gaza Strip. The attack was carried out in response to the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip earlier in the night.”
In response to the Israeli attack, Barhoum warned Israel against “committing such foolish acts.” He said that Israeli military operations will “further complicate matters and intensify tensions” between Hamas and Israel.


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