Palestinians fire mortar to defy truce with Israel

Palestinian terrorists fired a mortar shell into Israel on Thursday morning to defy an informal truce between Israel and Hamas, Haaretz reported.

The shell was directed at the western Negev following an Egyptian-brokered truce that had supposedly ended a two-day Palestinian onslaught that saw a total of 86 projectiles fired at the Jewish state from Gaza.

“The Egyptians have a very impressive ability to articulate to [Hamas] that its primary interest is not to attack and use terror against Israel or other targets,” Israeli defense official Amos Gilad told Army Radio.

Before the truce, the last rocket from Gaza had been fired at 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to an Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman cited by Reuters. Gilad, however, stressed that “there is no agreement with Hamas, there has never been and there will never be.”

“The only thing that has been set and said is that there will be calm,” Gilad said. “We are not interested in an escalation.”