Gaza Popular Resistance Committees promise more kidnappings

 Last update - 00:40 08/08/2008       
PRC: Gaza truce may end in 3 weeks if no progress on crossings
By Reuters

 

The Popular Resistance Committees Palestinian militant group on Thursday warned Israel that the truce between Hamas and Israel in Gaza could end in three weeks time if no progress is made on the crossings and the release of prisoners.

 

The truce between Israel and Hamas went into effect on June 19.

 

"The Zionist occupation (Israel) has not yet agreed to the demand to release our prisoners so our fighters are preparing for the next round in which we will try to abduct more Israeli soldiers to swap them for our hero prisoners," Abu Attaya, spokesman of the PRC's armed wing, told Reuters.
 
On Thursday, the PRC allowed Reuters and other news organizations to film a live ammunition training exercise. Gunmen detonated bombs and opened fire while storming a mock Israeli army base built on the ruins of a former Jewish settlement in the southern Gaza Strip.

 

Abu Mujahed, one of the group's leaders, told dozens of guerillas undergoing military training that Hamas, the PRC and other factions were disappointed at Israel's slow progress in opening Gaza's border crossings and prisoner release talks.

 

"[Israel] has until the end of the tenth week [since the declaration of the ceasefire] and if they do not abide by the obligations of calm, politicians will stop talking and military men will act," Abu Mujahed said.

 

He said militant groups had agreed among themselves to give the truce a 10-week trial period, although he did not say whether Hamas was also involved in the deadline.

 

PRC gunmen together with Hamas militants and another armed faction abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a June 2006 cross-border raid.

 

The Egyptian-brokered truce calls on Gaza militants to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel gradually easing an embargo on the territory. The truce has largely held and rocket attacks from Gaza have declined.

 

On Wednesday, a rocket fired from Gaza landed in southern Israel, but caused no injuries or damage, Israel's military said.

 

Israel has responded to previous attacks by closing border crossings along the Gaze Strip.

 

Hamas, which currently controls the Gaza Strip, has also called on Israel to release hundreds of prisoners in exchange for Shalit.