GAZA, Dec. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- The Islamic Jihad (holy war) announced on Saturday that the truce with Israel officially ends at midnight.

    Any future talks on renewal of calmness would be meaningless as long as the issues of ending Israeli occupation, releasing the Palestinian prisoners and stopping violence against the Palestinians were not included, the Palestinian militant group said in a written statement.

    Israel didn't stop arrests, assassinations and incursions against the Palestinians in spite of the ceasefire reached between Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon on Feb. 8 in Egypt, the statement said.

    Abbas won commitment from 13 Palestinian factions to observe calmness till the end of this year in the Cairo dialogue in March.The Islamic Jihad defended its attacks on Israel as reaction to the Israeli violation of the ceasefire. Enditem