JERUSALEM - A three-day cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza expired Friday morning with no announcement of an extension and reports of rockets and mortar fire from Gaza.
The Israeli military announced it had intercepted a rocket over Ashkelon, a city near the northern border of the Gaza Strip, minutes after the temporary truce expired at 8 a.m. The military said that four other rockets hit unoccupied areas. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
A spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist militant group that operates in Gaza, said it would not extend the cease-fire but that it would participate in talks in Cairo to fashion a more durable truce.
At a Gaza City rally on Thursday, a Hamas leader declared 'victory' for the past month but said it was just a precursor to a bigger victory.
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'Our demands are purely humanitarian and need no negotiations because it is the right of human beings to live,' a Qassam spokesman said on Hamas's Al Aqsa television Thursday night.
Israeli Procedure Reignites Old Debate Entities 0 Name: Hamas Count: 3 1 Name: Gaza Count: 3 2 Name: Israel Count: 1 3 Name: Ashkelon Count: 1 4 Name: Gaza City Count: 1 5 Name: Palestinian Count: 1 6 Name: Al Aqsa Count: 1 7 Name: Cairo Count: 1 8 Name: Gaza Strip Count: 1 9 Name: Israeli Count: 1 10 Name: JERUSALEM Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1yasDZw Title: Hamas rejects disarmament proposal Description: GAZA CITY, Gaza City (AP) - With a deadline looming hours away, Hamas on Thursday rejected Israeli demands it disarm and threatened to resume its rocket attacks if its demands for lifting a crippling blockade on Gaza were not met.