Hamas complains to Egypt after Israeli army kills Gazan
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| A Palestinian youth (C) waves a flag in front of Israeli soldiers during a
demonstration in the West Bank village of al-Masara near Bethlehem, marking the
recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state by the United Nations November 30,
2012. The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on November 29 overwhelmingly
approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine after
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the world body to issue its long
overdue ''birth certificate.''
Credit: Reuters/Ammar Awad
(Reuters) - Hamas accused Israel on Saturday of violating the shaky,
Egyptian-brokered Gaza truce of November 21 after Israeli troops killed a
Palestinian taking part in a protest at the enclave's border
fence.
Medical officials said the 21-year-old man had been among six Palestinians
wounded by gunfire during Friday's demonstration near southern Rafah, and had
later died in hospital.
The Israeli military said the Palestinians had tried to vandalize the
fortified fence and that soldiers shot at their legs after first trying to warn
them away.
The Gaza Strip's Hamas government described the incident, as well as the
Israeli navy's seizure of nine Palestinian fisherman on Wednesday, as violations
of a ceasefire mediated by Cairo to end a surge of cross-border fighting this
month.
"We have discussed this with Egyptian officials, so they guarantee a
cessation to those violations," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Increased Palestinian access to the Gaza fence and to fishing waters heavily
patrolled by Israel were among conditions lodged by Hamas and other armed
factions in the Cairo talks.
Israel said it was willing to ease its military clampdown on the territory if
the Palestinians did not pose a threat.
Since 2009, the Israelis had enforced a 300-metre-deep no-go zone on the
Palestinian side of the border, saying this kept away gunmen and would-be
infiltrators. It had also denied Palestinians the means of working swathes of
farmland.
The army suspended zone enforcement after the November 21 truce, but killed
another Palestinian in a similar fence protest two days later. Hamas, while
condemning Israel, deployed police to evacuate other demonstrations.
Abu Zuhri's remarks did not indicate that the Islamist movement, which
remains hostile to the Jewish state, wanted to abandon the ceasefire. The eight
days of fighting this month killed 166 Palestinians, while Gazan rocket fire
killed six Israelis.
A smaller Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad, was more threatening than Hamas,
saying in a statement that "continued and so flagrant (Israeli) violations would
put the calm at risk and push resistance factions to respond in a way they deem
suitable".
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