8 Palestinians killed in Israel Air Force strikes in Gaza

Eight Palestinians were killed in two Israel Air Force strikes in the Gaza Strip hours after Hamas declaredan end to Egypt brokered six months truce with Israel.

Eight Palestinians were killed in two Israel Air Force strikes in the Gaza Strip hours after Hamas declaredan end to Egypt brokered six months truce with Israel, media reports said.

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Three armed Hamas insurgents were killed in an air strike on Tufah in the southern Gaza Strip and 5 other Palestinians were killed in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel Radio was quoted as saying by the Palestinians sources.

Amid escalation in violence during the last one week when Palestinian militants fired several rockets and Israel carried out retaliatory air strikes on Gaza targeting launching pads, Hamas, which has complete control over the coastal Strip, announced that it is calling off the six month ceasefire.

"The calm, which was reached with Egyptian sponsorship on June 19 and expires on December 19, is finished because the enemy did not abide by its obligations," Hamas spokesman, Ayman Taha, who represented the group in talks with other Palestinian factions, said.

"The calm is over,"Taha asserted.

Palestinian militant factions fired eleven rockets and six mortar shells yesterday in addition to twenty on Wednesday, the Israeli army said.