(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-21 11:35

Palestinian Radio stations in Gaza quoted Israeli army officials as saying that the decision to keep Gaza under strict and full closure "is political, and the army has nothing to do in order to change the decision."

Al-Quds Radio station based in Gaza reported that the Israeli army said that the closure was one of the painful means to pressure on the Palestinians to revolt against militants who fire rockets at Sderot and Ashkelom round the clock to stop it."

A Palestinian boy holds up a candle during a protest in Gaza City against the power cuts following the closure of the Gaza Strip's sole power center. [Agencies]

Barak's decision came after a week-long of makeshift rockets attacks carried out by Islamic Hamas movement and other minor militant groups against Israel, which launched raids into Gaza since Tuesday and left 37 people dead.

Hamas on Sunday said it had fired over 200 homemade missile weapons, including 160 Qassam rockets, into southern Israel in six days as part of its response to an Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians, however, are divided over the rocket attacks.

Acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the rockets "are useless and had only brought disasters to the people." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held that the rockets attacks were "absurd and an Israel excuse to block any progress in the peace negotiations."

Their remarks induced criticism from different militant groups which said that "the rockets are fired to express the status of anger at the Israeli aggression practiced round the clock against our people."

Abu O'beida, spokesman of al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas movement's armed wing, said that "rockets are fired at Israel can't be an excuse for Israel to punish 1.5 million people, whether we fired rockets or we didn't fire, Israel is determined to continue its aggression on our people."

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