Hamas Calls for New Attacks on Israel*

By IBRAHIM BARZAK
The Associated Press
Sunday, April 22, 2007; 6:26 AM

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The Islamic militant group Hamas on Sunday
called for new attacks on Israel after eight Palestinians were killed in
a surge of fighting over the weekend.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum urged Palestinians to be prepared for a
new round of confrontation.

"The blood of our people is not cheap," he said in a statement faxed to
The Associated Press. "Therefore we are calling on ... (Hamas' armed
wing) and the Palestinian resistance groups to be united in the trench
of resistance and to use all possible means of resistance and to respond
to the massacres."

Eight Palestinians were killed during a 24-hour surge in violence in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, including two militants killed early Sunday
during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Nablus. The fighting also
included a Palestinian rocket attack on the southern Israeli town of
Sderot that damaged one home but caused no injuries.

The violence has threatened a cease-fire declared last November between
Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza. Palestinian officials have
also said it jeopardized their efforts to expand the truce to the West Bank.

The Palestinian unity government, which includes Hamas, has called for
an expanded truce. Hamas officials in the government have tried to
separate themselves from pronouncements by the group's military wing.
Israel considers Hamas in all its forms to be a terrorist group.

Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas,
declined to comment on the Hamas statement issued Sunday, saying he had
not yet read it.

But he said the government "condemns the ugly massacres and crimes that
reflect Israel's policy of military aggression."

He said the fighting proved that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "is
misleading the public when he talks about his willingness to have a
peaceful settlement" with the Palestinians.