By Andrew L. Jaffee

Today, Hamas announced it was “willing to urge militants to renew a ceasefire” just days after it suspended that ceasefire. Conclusion: Israel’s security measures, including targeted killings of Palestinian terrorists, work. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP, al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, etc., all know very well that an Israeli target is on their foreheads, and the IDF can pick them off at will. From the BBC:

Earlier, Israeli officials said threats from Israel had stopped Hamas militants from firing rockets.

A senior Israeli defence ministry official, Maj Gen Amos Gilad, told Israeli Army Radio on Thursday that attacks by Hamas had fallen after threats from Israeli officials.

“We sent clear messages… and at the end the firing of the rockets stopped,” AP quoted him as saying.

Israeli media reports said Mr Haniya had asked his Hamas group’s armed wing to stop the attacks, but Hamas officials denied this.

As to the deaths of 8 Palestinians killed at a picnic on a Gaza beach — which Hamas used as a pretense for suspending their “ceasefire:”

Israel is not responsible for a blast that killed eight Palestinians enjoying a picnic on a Gaza beach last Friday, Defence Minister Amir Peretz says.

He said an inquiry had shown an Israeli shell could not have caused the blast, as had initially been alleged. …

The investigation focused on six artillery shells fired by the military. The army says it is certain five landed about 250 metres (820ft) from the beach where the Ghalia family were sitting.

One shell apparently misfired, but the explosion which ripped through the Ghalia family’s picnic was at least eight minutes afterwards, the army says.

Concluding his investigation, General Klifi said on Tuesday: “The chances that artillery fire hit that area at that time are nil.”

Who are we to believe, a sovereign democracy, or a group of terrorists advocating genocide?

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Related: Israel, Palestinians, Terrorist Groups

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