Gaza - The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement said Thursday that any extension of the nearly-five-month-old truce in the Gaza Strip depended on the level of commitment Israel showed to it. The Egyptian-mediated truce, which came into being on June 19, has been battered in recent days by an Israeli raid to destroy a tunnel being built under the Gaza border, and subsequent militant rocket attacks from the salient.
"We will not extend this lull as long as the occupation (Israel) did not commit itself to all its articles, mainly the lifting of the siege and the opening of the crossings," Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas' Izz al-Deen al-Qassam Brigades,said.
"There is no way to extend the ceasefire if the crossings remained closed," he added.
Israel agreed, as part of the ceasefire, to ease its siege of the Gaza Strip in return for a commitment by the Gazan militants to halt rocket fire on the south of the Jewish state.
Although Israel did allow more humanitarian aid to enter the salient, it also closed the crossing for a limited period each time the truce was broken by rocket fire from the salient.
