Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations

    GAZA, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said on Tuesday that the closure of Gaza Strip border crossings is an Israeli violation of the truce brokered by Egypt last month.

    Israel ordered the closure of all Gaza Strip crossings after unknown militants fired three mortar shells at Gaza border crossings of Karni and Sofa on Monday and Tuesday.

    The DFLP said in the statement that since the truce came into effect on June 19, Israel has closed down Gaza Strip crossings five times, adding "no tangible changes had been felt on the movement of goods transfer into Gaza."

    "The decisions of (Israeli Defense Minster Ehud) Barak to close Gaza Strip crossings is a clear breach of the truce brokered by Egypt between Israel and Hamas," the DFLP said in a statement. "It seems that Israel wants clam for calm only."

    The truce calls on Israel to stop ground and air military operations on Gaza militants and ease a one-year blockade it imposed on the region, in exchange for stopping homemade rocket attacks on Israel.

    Israel imposed a tight blockade on the impoverished region, which is termed as a "hostile entity," right after Hamas took control of the enclave and routed President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces in June 2007.

    Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Barak said he had ordered to reopen the goods crossings of the Gaza strip in the afternoon following Egyptian mediation.