[Ma'an] Three Palestinian armed groups in Gaza said on Sunday that they are not bound by an agreement to hold their fire at Israel.The armed wings of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and Fatah denied the deal, which the Hamas-backed government in Gaza announced on Saturday.
| That's how it works: one Paleo group announces a cease-fire, two other Paleo groups say they won't honor it and lob rockets at the Israelis, and when the Israelis retaliate they're the ones accused of breaking the cease-fire. |
The statement released stressed that confrontation and resistance to the occupation will remain an option, denying any agreement to stem the launching of projectiles into Israel.
The DFLP's armed wing, the National Resistance Brigades, also released a statement saying it would continue with "resistance in all its forms." The group also called for armed groups to form a joint operation room to counter Israeli attacks.
Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades also denied any connection with the reported agreement. "The news reports that were released [of] an agreement between the Palestinian factions on halting firing rockets at Israel are inaccurate and untrue."
The respective paramilitaries' statements follow the announcement on Saturday that armed Palestinian groups in Gaza reached an agreement to stop firing homemade projectiles into Israel except during army incursions, according to de facto Interior Minister Fathi Hammad.
The Al-Qassam brigades, Hamas' paramilitary group, confirmed the agreement between factions and said that, "The agreement with the armed wings of the resistance factions to stop firing projectiles did not arise from weakness but rather from a need to restore the internal front and the national interest of the Palestinians."
The brigades added that, "Al-Qassam brigades will not stand hand folded towards the Israeli escalation in Gaza, yet, they will defend with all means to back fight any new assault targeting Gaza."
Meanwhile, eight Palestinians were injured in Gaza as Israeli warplanes struck several targets on Sunday morning. The Israeli military stated that the airstrike was a response to a projectile fired into southern Israel the morning before.