Hamas rejects UN and US claims that it broke truce

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance movement, Hamas, has rejected the accusations of the UN and the US that it bears responsibility for the collapse of the humanitarian truce which started on Friday morning.

Hamas spokesman Dr Sami Abu-Zuhri said in a statement that blaming Hamas for the breakdown of the truce is “illogical.” He added: “The UN [statement] has taken the side of Israel.”

Abu-Zuhri said that a shootout took place inside the Gaza Strip after Israeli forces violated the truce and entered the territory. “The Palestinian resistance responded as an act of self-defence,” he said.

The UN statement concentrated on the issue of the missing Israeli soldier. The Israeli occupation quickly used the issue to justify its attacks on civilians. Meanwhile, Abu-Zuhri said, the UN statement deliberately ignored the massacre.

According to Palestinian officials, Israel violated the truce by targeting civilians who had returned to their destroyed houses in Rafah as soon as the truce went into effect.