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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas regrets civilian deaths, Israel unmoved |
| 2010-02-06 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Hamas, in an unusual move that seems unlikely to herald a change in tactics by the Islamist group, has expressed regret for the deaths of Israeli civilians in Palestinian rocket attacks during fighting in Gaza a year ago. Israel, where Hamas suicide bombers have killed hundreds of civilians over two decades, dismissed any apology for the three non-combatants hit by rockets from Gaza in the war as insincere. In a report by a committee set up by Hamas to examine U.N. allegations of war crimes by its fighters, which was delivered to the United Nations this week, the authors said: "We regret any harm that may have befallen any Israeli civilian. "We hope the Israeli civilians understand that their government's continued attacks on us were the key issue and the cause," added the report, of which Reuters obtained a copy. In response, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said on Friday: "For years Hamas has boasted about deliberately targeting civilians, either through suicide bombings, by gunfire or by rockets. Who are they trying to fool now?" At least one senior Hamas official, who declined to be named, said the movement remained ready to conduct "martyrdom operations" -- suicide bombings of Israeli buses, cafes and the like, which have not, however, been seen for several years. The Hamas report, after listing Palestinian grievances such as the Israeli embargo on Gaza, reaffirmed comments by officials of the 22-year-old Islamist movement that its improvised rockets were fired purely defensively and were aimed at Israeli military targets. They simply lacked the necessary accuracy, Hamas said. "It should be noted that the Palestinian resistance ... is not an organized army that possesses developed technological weapons," the report said. "It may target a military site or a tank position and their fire goes astray ... and hit a civilian location, despite their efforts to avoid hurting civilians." Israel and independent rights groups say Hamas has broken the laws of war by indiscriminately firing thousands of rockets and mortars around Israeli towns, notably Sderot, close to the Gaza border in the years since the group won a parliamentary election in 2006 and seized full control in Gaza in 2007. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 They simply lacked the necessary accuracy, Hamas said. Perhaps if they aimed them at the center of Gaza... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-02-06 15:14 |
| #2 Something for Monkey's bun to work with. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-02-06 02:30 |
| #1 "we're sorry there weren't more" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-02-06 00:10 |