Beit Lahiya (Gaza Strip): The ruling Hamas group fired a barrage of homemade rockets at Israel on Saturday, hours after calling off a truce with Israel in anger over an artillery attack that killed seven civilians at a beachside picnic in the Gaza Strip.
The end of the truce raised the prospect of a new wave of bloodshed and the resumption of suicide attacks that Hamas had suspended since reaching the cease-fire in February 2005.
The Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for at least 15 of the rockets fired after midnight, as well as a barrage of mortar bombs. The attacks caused no casualties, and the Israeli army said nearly all of them appeared to land inside Gaza.
"The earthquake in the Zionist towns will start again and the aggressors will have no choice but to prepare their coffins or their luggage," the Hamas militants said in a leaflet. "The resistance groups ... will choose the proper place and time for the tough, strong and unique response."
Israel's artillery attack was part of a wider aerial and artillery bombardment of suspected Palestinian rocket-launching sites that killed a total of 10 people Friday. Three were militants.
Maj Gen Yoav Galant, Israel's southern commander, said investigators were trying to determine if an errant tank shell killed the people at the beach.
"I express deep regret over the fact that uninvolved persons have been hit," Galant told reporters.
The violence fueled tensions already high over an Israeli airstrike that killed a militant commander in the Hamas-led government on Thursday. Tens of thousands of people packed a Gaza soccer stadium Friday for Jamal Abu Samhadana's funeral.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack on the beach as a "genocidal crime." He called for international intervention and declared a three-day mourning period. His rival, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, said the shelling was a "war crime" and urged an end to recent fighting between Hamas and Abbas' moderate Fatah movement.
But the internal strife continued Saturday. Gunmen killed a Fatah security officer while trying to kidnap him overnight Saturday, the Palestinian Preventive Security said. The Fatah-aligned security force blamed Hamas and vowed to retaliate, accusing the Islamic militants of "shedding Palestinian blood and killing without showing any moral, religious, behavior."
Fatah boycotted a meeting with Haniyeh on Saturday aimed at calming tensions between the two groups. Fatah spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said Hamas had committed a "number of violations" in recent days, including killing the security officer.
Israel's attacks raised doubts about whether Abbas would go ahead with a referendum on establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel despite pleas from Hamas to hold off.
Abbas is eager to restart stalled peace talks with Israel, and on Saturday was expected to formally announce a July 31 date for the referendum.
Haniyeh sent a letter to Abbas on Friday urging him not to hold the vote, saying it would divide the Palestinian people. He urged Abbas to continue negotiations with Hamas over the plan and proposed forming a unity government with Fatah.
Friday's killings could erode what has been widespread public support for the referendum. At large Hamas demonstrations Friday, many chanted anti-referendum slogans.
Israel said its attacks were aimed at areas that Palestinian militants used to fire homemade rockets.
"Harming innocent civilians is of course totally unacceptable and we will do whatever we can to avoid civilian loss of life," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.
"What we were trying to do is to stop the daily volleys of rockets from Gaza into our civilian communities inside Israel," he said. "Unfortunately, we have a situation where the Palestinian government does nothing whatsoever to prevent the launching of these rockets."
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