Hamas to Israel: "Cease fire will end at the end of the year"

Haaretz reports:

Hamas said Wednesday that it remains committed to an informal truce with Israel reached in February. At the same time, it said it reserved the right to retaliate against Israel for killing one of its weapons experts. "Hamas is committed to the calm," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Wednesday. "But our people have the right to respond to the Israeli crimes committed against our civilians and our holy warriors." Hamas and other Palestinian factions interpret the cease-fire to mean they can respond to individual Israeli attacks while remaining committed to the truce. In an air strike in Gaza on Tuesday, missiles pulverized a car carrying Hassan Madhoun, a leader of the Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and Fawzi Abu Kara of Hamas, a specialist in the manufacture of rockets and explosives. Madhoun, the main target of the raid, was a top fugitive whom Israel has accused of planning deadly bombings at Ashdod port and the Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel. Ten Israelis were killed in the Ashdod attack in 2004. He was also responsible for attempting to send a female suicide bomber from Gaza to Be'er Sheva's Soroka Medical Center. Israel had been pressuring Abbas to arrest Madhoun since the beginning of the year, providing the gunman's address and cellular phone number. At Sharon's urging, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also brought up Madhoun with Abbas, Israeli officials have said. "This is an open war," said Hamas spokesperson Mushir al-Masri after the air strike that killed Madhoun and Abu Kara. "They (the Israelis) are going to pay a heavy price for their crimes... We will not stand handcuffed."

------------------ Israel's Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom, says, "It is not our goal to continue this activity. It can end immediately... If Abu Mazen [President Abbas] takes the strategic decision which he still refuses to take and acts against the infrastructure of terror... [Israeli activity] in Gaza will end the same day." However, Hamas may have the final say in the matter, since as al-Masri says, "The quiet will finish at the end of this year."