CTV News | Gaza militants deny unilateral ceasefire

Top Stories -   

Gaza militants deny unilateral ceasefire

Font-size:      Share  Print

CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Saturday Jul. 22, 2006 11:24 PM ET

Militant Palestinian groups in Gaza reject a claim that an agreement has been reached for a ceasefire with Israel.

Earlier, Palestinian officials said rocket attacks against Israel would stop beginning at midnight, Saturday, in an attempt to bring an end to the blistering Israeli offensive that began June 28.

The Israelis began the attacks three days after Palestinian militants staged a raid on a military outpost near the border.

The militants killed two soldiers in the raid and captured a third.

Since then, the Israelis have waged an intense campaign to recover the abducted 19-year-old, Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a Palestinian official told The Associated Press the ceasefire is aimed at ending the ongoing offensive that has claimed the lives of more than 100 Palestinians.

The meetings involved Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

However, Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Islamic Jihad and the Hamas military wing -- the three groups who claimed responsibility for capturing Shalit -- denied they had agreed to a ceasefire.

They say the rocket attacks are in response to Israeli aggression.

The Israeli military has staged daily attacks using warplanes, tanks and artillery.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militants have fired an almost constant barrage of homemade rockets into Israel.

The Israelis haven't commented on the unilateral ceasefire except to say it would wait to see what happens; however, there was no fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday.

As recently as Friday, four people were killed in Gaza City when -- according to reports -- an Israeli tank shell struck a home.

The victims included a Hamas activist and three of his relatives.

However, the Israelis denied using artillery or tanks.

One day earlier, on Thursday, two militants were killed and 15 people -- many of them civilians -- were wounded when Israel carried out strikes on Palestinian militants against refugee camps in central Gaza.

With files from the Associated Press

Share with your social Network:

 

Advertisement

Contest

CTV.ca Special

Key Players

Key Players

Middle East and world leaders who play a critical role in the escalating crisis

Hezbollah

Hezbollah's Power

Sarah Challands on the weapons and people that make Hezbollah a formidable force.

Interactive: Mideast Crisis; promo

Interactive Map

Middle East and world leaders who play a critical role in the escalating crisis

Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener

A soldier's report

A Canadian Forces major emails this report from the UN mission in south Lebanon.

In Pictures

In Pictures: Mideast Evacuation

Mideast Evacuation

Hundreds of thousands of world citizens are desperately trying to flee the war-torn region.

In Pictures: Mideast Crisis

Mideast Crisis

As the crisis escalates, the scenes of devastation are becoming more apparent.

Background

Israeli girls write messages on a shell at a heavy artillery position near Kiryat Shmona, in northern Israel, next to the Lebanese border, Monday, July 17, 2006. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

History

Israel and Lebanon have never signed a peace accord, and remain officially in a state of war that has existed since 1948.

Hezbollah Backgrounder

Hezbollah

A radical Shiite group in Lebanon that has become embroiled in a deadly dispute with Israel, is a party of paradoxes.

Mideast Chronology

Timeline

Chronology of events in the escalating Middle East violence, starting June 25.

User Tools

About the tools

Need to get in touch with CTV? You can email the CTV web team using the 'Feedback' button.

Share it with your network of friends

Share this CTV article or feature with your friends. Click on the icon for your favourite social networking or messaging system, and follow the prompts.

Share this article with Facebook

Share this article with Digg

Share this article with Newsvine

Share this article with delicious

Share this article.
Send Email

Share this article with Twitter

Share this article with StumbleUpon

Share this article with Reddit

Share this article with Yahoo! Buzz