Hamas said Friday it has ended its six-month truce with Israel and will respond to any attack on the Gaza Strip. "The calm is over and there won't be a renewal because the Zionist enemy has not respected its conditions," Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said shortly after 6:00 am (0400 GMT).
Two rockets were fired by Palestinian groups from the southern Gaza Strip into southern Israel following the announcement, an Israeli military spokeswoman said, according to AFP.
"We issue a warning to the Zionist enemy: all attacks against the Gaza Strip or any new crime will trigger a large-scale confrontation and we will retaliate very fiercely," said a statement on the website of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
On his part, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has indicated that Israel would respond if attacked, saying: "When the situation requires us to, we will act." "We are not afraid of launching a large-scale military operation in Gaza but there is no need to rush into it," he told journalists.
