Hamas ends truce following Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza

By Dion Nissenbaum
McClatchy Newspapers

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip - Omar Athamna and his family crawled into their beds Tuesday night in the quiet following an Israeli military campaign that killed more than 60 Palestinians in their small farming town.

Their sense of calm proved to be short-lived. Just before dawn on Wednesday, an Israeli artillery barrage slammed into the Athamnas' neighborhood, killing at least 17 members of the extended family, including seven children, as they tried to escape.

The attack decimated the Athamna clan, stunned the Gaza Strip and threatened to spark a renewed suicide bombing campaign in Israel.

"I am not a militant, but I will be a militant to fight them now," Omar Athamna said as he sat near the spot where three of his brothers, two cousins, aunt, uncle, grandmother and other relatives were killed.

In Syria, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal declared an end to the group's self-imposed 18-month-old cease-fire with Israel and said the group would respond with "deeds, not words."

As international condemnation mounted, Israel halted its artillery shelling of the Gaza Strip and vowed to launch a swift investigation...http://tinyurl.com/yec6uh

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