Al Qassam: we are committed to the truce, if violated will respond hard

Thursday June 19, 2008 11:17 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Al Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas Movement, issued a press statement on Thursday announcing the group is committed to the truce between Hamas and Israel.

Hamas Logo - File 2008

The group added that it considers this truce as a way to ease the hardships the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza are facing due to the Israeli siege and attacks.

AL Qassam warned Israel that if its army violates the truce the Qassam Brigades response will be very harsh.

In its statement the group announced the following conditions:

1- The Al Qassam Brigades is committed to the truce that was agreed on by the political leadership, as it is necessary for our people in Gaza.

2- The group will respond hard on any Israeli violations of the truce if the latter did not implement all the conditions of the truce.

3- The Israeli soldier that was adducted by the Palestinian resistance in June 2006 from his military post in Gaza will not be freed until Palestinian political prisoners are released from Israeli detention camps.

According to the deal, the truce took effect on Thursday morning for six months and will only include the Gaza Strip and not the West Bank.

The Egyptian-mediated ceasefire stipulates that Hamas, which controls Gaza since June 2007, will halt the fire of homemade shells into Israeli territory, in exchange for Israel lifting the 12 month-blockade and ceasing all military attacks against the Gaza Strip. Both Hamas and Israel have announced that they agree on the conditions.

gaza strip | truce | news report ghassanb at imemc dot org