The radical Islamic group Hamas is seeking to keep Palestinian militants from firing rockets into Israel in an attempt to ease tensions in the area after a series of Israeli air strikes on the enclave, the Arab newspaper Asharq Alaswat reported on Sunday.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, does not want to give Israel a pretext for new Israeli attacks on the enclave, which may grow into a large-scale military operation similar to Israel's Operation Cast Lead in December 2008-January 2009, which put an end to massive Palestinian attacks and claimed the lives of some 1,500 Palestinians, the paper said.
However, radical militant groups in Gaza threatened to continue firing rockets into south Israel despite the warnings by local authorities in retaliation to the killing of their three leaders, the paper said.
Since the start of 2010, Palestinian militants have fired about 200 rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
GAZA STRIP, November 21 (RIA Novosti)
