Militants in Gaza Strip fire 4 rockets into Israel

JERUSALEM - Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired four rockets into southern Israel yesterday, as Hamas formally announced the end of its unwritten, often-breached truce with Israel.

The Israeli military said two rockets were fired yesterday morning, and two more after sunset. It said troops guarding Israeli farmers in fields adjoining Gaza also came under sniper fire from across the border. No injuries were reported.

In a statement posted on its website, Hamas said Israel had breached agreements by imposing an economic blockade on Gaza, staging military strikes into the densely populated coastal strip and continuing to hunt down the militant group's operatives in the West Bank.

"Since the enemy did not abide with the conditions . . . we hold the enemy fully responsible for ending the truce and we confirm that the Palestinian resistance factions headed by Hamas will act," the statement said.

There was no immediate Israeli comment about Hamas's announcement that it would not extend the cease-fire past its end yesterday.

Israel said previously that the six-month-old truce, brokered by Egypt, didn't have an official expiration date and that the government was interested in prolonging "understandings" with Hamas.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon reiterated his appeal for a truce extension and an immediate halt to rocket attacks on Israel and all acts of violence.

Hamas, which violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, is listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and much of the international community, and Israel does not officially have direct contact with it.

Though violence and casualties dropped significantly under the cease-fire agreement, the truce has increasingly unraveled since early November, when Israeli soldiers entered Gaza to destroy a tunnel that the army said could have been used in a cross-border raid.

In response, Palestinian militants resumed firing rockets at Israel.