LOC11:04
08:04 GMT
GAZA, Aug 27 (KUNA) -- The Israeli army accused the Palestinians of firing
a rocket on Friday midnight, north of the Gaza Strip, the second rocket that
hits Israel after renewal of Gaza cease-fire.
The Israeli army spokesperson told Radio Israel that "the rocket fell in
Sdot Negev region hours after Grad rocket landed near Ashkelon in an open
field Friday afternoon, despite an Egypt mediated cease-fire between Gaza
militants and Israel. No damage or injuries were reported in either hit."
Meanwhile, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper said that the Palestinian factions
called their second truce in less than five days in an attempt to keep more
than a week of hostilities with Israel from escalating.
A leader of the Islamic Jihad faction, Nafith Azzam, said that Egypt
mediated the cease-fire, which was to go into effect at 1 P.M. local time
Friday.
The factions had called a cease-fire late Sunday, but it dissolved almost
immediately in a volley of rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israel and
retaliatory Israeli airstrikes in which 20 Palestinians and one Israeli were
killed.
The violence began with a militant attack that killed eight Israelis on the
Egyptian border.
"The government has called on the Palestinian factions not to give an
opportunity to the Israeli government to escalate its aggression further,"
said Taher Nunu, a government spokesman in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Another Hamas official said all key factions agreed to the truce and that
the Gaza government and Egypt were trying to get tiny factions on board, too.
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