Hamas: Group committed to truce only if Israel is

Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk, member of the Political Bureau of Hamas, said the Movement would only be committed to the Egyptian-mediated ceasefire agreement on condition that the Israeli occupation does.

Abu Marzouk said in a statement on Saturday night that Hamas is not pleased with the continuous Israeli breaches, adding that the Israeli occupation must stop its attacks and violations.

“We, in Hamas, are committed to the ceasefire, as long as Israel is,” he said, “The Israeli occupation has repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreement; those violations must end,” Abu Marzouk added.

He said contacts are being currently held with other Palestinian resistance factions to maintain a state of calm and leave no excuses for Israel’s projected infringements of the truce accord.

Abu Marzouk’s statement was issued following an Israeli attack on a cement factory in Gaza on Saturday.

The Israeli war minister Moshe Ya’alon also spoke on Saturday evening claiming that the Israeli army will not tolerate a new “trickle” of rockets from Gaza.

Responding to Hamas’s reaction to the attack, the Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that “Israel’s safety is number one in priority.”

Speaking during a Hannuka candle lighting ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said: “Israel’s safety comes first. I won’t allow even one rocket on our territories.”

“That is why the army responded to the rocket and destroyed a cement factory that was making cement to repair tunnels that were hit during Operation Protective Edge,” he further claimed.

“Hamas will be held responsible for every escalation,” Netanyahu threatened.

Earlier in the day, Israel’s army spokesman Avichay Adraee said In remarks he wrote on his Twitter account that his country’s air force had launched strikes against a Hamas target, southern the Gaza Strip, in response to a rocket attack on southern Israel on Friday.

The Israeli raid represents a flagrant breach to the terms of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire accord signed in the wake of the notorious 51-day offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli offensive left over 2,000 Palestinians dead and more than 11,000 others injured.

Meanwhile, a state of simmering tension is expected to rock Occupied Jerusalem city after the Israeli alleged Temple Organizations launched calls to storm Muslims’ holy al-Aqsa Mosque at 7 a.m. on Monday to mark the Jewish candle lighting ceremony.