by Hana Levi JulianLeaders of major terrorist groups in Gaza said Sunday they either do not recognize the ceasefire agreement or plan to use it to re-arm and improve terrorist training. Two Kassams were fired Monday.
Abu Abir, spokesman for the Hamas-linked Popular Resistance Committees terrorist organization in Gaza, said Sunday, “The ceasefire offers a period of calm for our fighters to recover and prepare for our final goal of evacuating Palestine.”
Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza on Sunday morning, calling for an end to all Palestinian terrorist activities and Israeli counter-terrorist activities. Israel has pulled most of its ground troops out of Gaza.
Two Kassam rockets were fired from Gaza at western Negev areas this afternoon (Monday). No one was physically hurt in this latest ceasefire violation.
In a series of exclusive interviews with Aaron Klein of WorldNetDaily, terrorist leaders said the ceasefire – which was broken within two hours after it officially went into effect at 6:00 Sunday morning – will be used to smuggle weapons into Gaza, reinforce and train “fighter units,” and produce rockets for a future confrontation with the Jewish State.
Abu Abdullah, a senior leader of Hamas' "military wing," told WorldNetDaily that Hamas agreed to the ceasefire "because we need a period of calm to recuperate. This lull in fighting will not bring us to speak about peace."
Abu Abdullah is consider one of the most important operational members of Hamas' Iz-Addin al-Kassam Martyrs Brigades, the declared military wing of Hamas.
Abu Luay, a leader of Islamic Jihad in Gaza, said Israel's weak stance "proves that our rocket attacks work. The Zionists know there is no remedy for our rockets."
The Islamic Jihad leader said rocket attacks against Israel would resume "at a time of our choosing."
IDF military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin and General Security Service (Shin Bet) director Yuval Diskin both recently warned the Knesset that PA terrorists will soon achieve military capability similar to that of the Hizbullah guerilla terrorist organization in Lebanon.
Both security chiefs urged Knesset Members to allow the IDF to launch a major offensive into Gaza to prevent PA terrorists from upgrading their military preparedness, in order to avoid a scenario similar to the debacle that took place during the Lebanon war this summer.
After that war, numerous IDF reservists and other groups charged that Israel badly underestimated the military capability of Hizbullah. They said Hizbullah had used the time following IsraelÂ’s pullout from southern Lebanon in 2000 in order to re-arm and upgrade its military skills.
Security officials are now saying that a similar situation is on the horizon in Gaza if the government does not heed its warnings.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, however, told reporters on Sunday he had faith that the ceasefire could lead to a comprehensive peace deal with the PA. Olmert said Israel would show “patience and restraint” despite the violations.
Several terror organizations said they did not recognize and would not be bound by the ceasefire agreement. Six Kassam rockets were fired at Israel within the four hours following the onset of the truce, though the skies have been empty of rockets since then.
Hamas-led PA officials announced that some 13,000 PA troops have been deployed in northern Gaza along the border with Israel as a deterrent force to prevent Kassam rockets being fired at Israel from the area of Beit Hanoun, a favorite terrorist launching site.
The PA forces are spread out along the entire northern Gaza border, said officials, in an effort to ensure that the rocket attacks are halted completely .