Hamas rulers on Thursday made some rare criticism of Palestinian rocket fire on Israel, saying now was the wrong time for such attacks. The criticism comes as Hamas is trying to reach a long-term cease-fire with Israel and holding reconciliation talks with Fatah. Hamas apparently is wary of disrupting these efforts.
The group has fired thousands of rockets into southern Israel over the past few years, but it said Thursday that it has not been involved in recent attacks, including two rockets fired Wednesday.
"Regarding the report about rockets fired from Gaza, we emphasize that these rockets have no link to any of the Palestinian resistance groups and are being fired at the wrong time. We emphasize also that the security agencies are investigating who is behind such acts," the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry said.