A spokesman for the Islamic Hamas movement said Tuesday Israeli closure of Gaza commercial crossings is meaningless since Israel has not completely eased all sanctions imposed on these crossings.
Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement that since a truce in the Gaza Strip came into effect on June 19, Israel has not shown full commitment to reopening the crossings of Gaza, "therefore, closing the crossings today is meaningless."
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered Monday to close the three Gaza commercial crossings on the borders with Israel in response to a rocket attack on the southern Israeli town of Sderot.
"During the truce term, the amounts of goods Israel allowed into the Gaza Strip are much less than the goods were allowed before the truce deal was agreed upon," said Abu Zuhri.
Egypt brokered the unwritten truce between Israel and Gaza militant groups for six months, under which Israel eases restrictions on Gaza commercial crossings and stops air and ground operations in exchange for halt of makeshift rockets attacks from Gaza at the Jewish state.
He affirmed that "all the Palestinian factions showed full commitment to the truce. The problem is not with the Palestinian side, the problem is with the Zionist occupation (Israel) which didn't commit to the truce."
On Monday, unknown militants fired a homemade rocket at Israel. So far, no one has claimed responsibility and no injuries reported.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2008)
