Special report: Israel launches Gaza assault

    GAZA, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian militant groups officially withdrew their ceasefire offer on Saturday following Israeli rejection and the continuation of the Israel offensive in the northern Gaza Strip.

    Abu Obaida, the spokesman for Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, a military offshoot of the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said, "rockets will not stop as long as Israeli aggression against our people in the northern Gaza continued." Meanwhile, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) noted they will not accept "free truce with the enemy."

    "In the past, we have maintained a truce with this enemy but we paid heavy price and lost our best fighters," Abu Mujahed, spokesman for the PRC said.

    The armed wing of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) put conditions to abide by a ceasefire, namely halting offensive against the strip, opening crossing points, lifting the siege on the Palestinian territories and releasing Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

    On Thursday night, an Islamic Jihad leader Khader Habib told reporters that representatives of national and Islamic factions, who met with Prime Minister Ismail Haneya in Gaza, had agreed on a limited ceasefire with Israel.

    Habib noted "Israel stops its military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, while Palestinian militants stop firing rockets at Israel."

    However, the proposal was refused by Israel whose government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said "Israel will continue to defend its citizens against the rockets and will only stop its actions once those who fire, store and make the rockets and those who smuggle in their components cease their actions."