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Hamas says Gaza gunmen to stop attacks

Posted on: Sunday, 25 September 2005, 14:55 CDT

GAZA (Reuters) - A senior Hamas leader said on Sunday his militant group would stop launching attacks against Israel from the Gaza Strip, after Israel resumed its policy of targeting militant leaders in air strikes.

"The movement declares an end to its operations from the Gaza Strip against the Israeli occupation, which came ... in response to the assaults by the enemy," Hamas's most senior leader, Mahmoud al-Zahar, told reporters in Gaza.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.

Israel resumed its air strikes against militants last week after Gaza gunmen fired a barrage of rockets into south Israel. It halted the policy, widely condemned by many countries, in February after Israeli and Palestinian leaders declared a truce.

The violence was the worst since Israel completed its pullout from Gaza on September 12 after 38 years of occupation. Palestinian militants claimed the withdrawal, the first from settlements on land Palestinians want for a state, as a victory.

Zahar said Hamas, which is sworn to Israel' destruction, would continue to abide by a truce that militant groups declared in March and said they would honor until the end of the year by request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

He said the decision to end attacks from Gaza was due to "Hamas's interest to protect the Palestinian people from the oppression of the Zionists and to preserve the atmosphere of celebrations at the defeat of the occupation."

An Israeli missile strike killed two Islamic Jihad militants on Sunday, including a top commander. Last week, similar attacks killed two Hamas leaders in Gaza and destroyed several buildings Israel said the group had used to store and make weapons.

Hamas's power in Gaza has grown in wake of the pullout and a 4-1/2-year Palestinian uprising. The Islamic group plans to challenge Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group in legislative elections next year for the first time.

Source: REUTERS

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