Gaza: The leader of Hamas in Gaza said on Friday the group was “not calling for war” with Israel, and that Egypt and other parties were working behind the scenes to defuse the worst flare-up in violence since a 2014 conflict.
Israel’s military has traded blows with Hamas over the past few days. The Palestinians have fired mortars at Israeli troops and Israeli aircraft and artillery have struck inside Gaza.
“We are not calling for war but we will not allow incursions at all,” said Esmail Haniya, Hamas’s deputy chief, speaking at a mosque before Friday prayers.
“The resistance will not allow the establishment of a so-called buffer zone inside the borders of the Gaza Strip,” he said, referring to a 100-metre wide strip along the border but inside Gazan territory where the Israeli army has said it reserves the right to operate.
“We sent multiple messages that the resistance will not allow the Israeli occupation army to impose new rules within the borders of the Gaza Strip.”
Haniya said mediators from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Nations had been working to restore calm along Gaza’s border and that in the meantime Israeli forces had pulled back.
Israel’s military said it would not comment on its manoeuvres. But a spokeswoman said no Palestinian mortars had been fired since this morning, after two days of frequent barrages.
Israeli forces say they have been conducting operations against alleged tunnels under the border of Gaza used by fighters, and on Thursday discovered a tunnel built by Hamas.
Gaza hospital officials said a 54-year-old woman had been killed and a man wounded by fragments of an Israeli tank shell fired during the violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met senior ministers on Friday to discuss the situation.
More than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed during the 2014 Gaza conflict. Sixty-seven Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed by rockets and attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.
