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Hamas announces Palestinian talks on truce with Israel

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GAZA, November 5 (RIA Novosti) - The radical Islamic Hamas movement is to hold talks with other Palestinian factions on the observation of a truce with Israel agreed on in June, a Hamas spokesman said on Wednesday.

"All Palestinian groups and organizations will begin talks among themselves and with an Egyptian mediator to evaluate the current state of the ceasefire and to make a new decision on it," the spokesman said.

Israeli troops clashed with Hamas militants on Tuesday night, killing one gunman, after they entered the Gaza Strip to destroy a tunnel that Israel said Hamas planned to use to seize its soldiers.

In response to the Israeli operation and an airstrike that killed five Palestinians in southeast Gaza, Hamas fired more than 40 rockets into southern Israel. There were no injuries.

"The enemy launched an attack, breaching earlier concluded agreements, and should bear responsibility for this," the spokesman added.

Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007, ousting pro-presidential movement Fatah after a series of violent clashes.

The Israeli army press service said earlier that "the construction of a tunnel near the border intended for the abduction of Israeli soldiers was a serious violation of the ceasefire," adding that the military operation was aimed only at destroying the tunnel.

The press service also said that four Israeli soldiers were wounded in the military operation.

Israel and Hamas-led militants reached a truce agreement on June 19. Under the six-month deal, Hamas agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel, which in turn agreed to reopen its border crossings with the Gaza Strip to allow supplies of essential goods into the Palestinian territory.

Since then, Gaza militants have launched occasional rockets at Israeli territory, prompting Israel to close the border crossings.

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