Hamas government backtracks after expressing regret over harming Israeli civilians

Hamas backtracks on missile apology

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Hamas government in Gaza tried to distance itself Saturday from a statement it made earlier this week in which it expressed regret for harming Israeli civilians in rocket attacks.

The apology had signaled a rare deviation from Hamas’ violent ideology, and the subsequent zigzag reflects the Islamic militants’ conflicting objectives.

Hamas, which seized Gaza by force in 2007, is trying to reach out to the West in hopes of winning recognition and getting Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza. However, Hamas is also reluctant to discard its violent ideology for fear of losing credibility at home.

The apology for the rockets was part of the Hamas government’s response to a U.N. report that alleged both Hamas and Israel committed war crimes during Israel’s three-week Gaza offensive last winter.

The U.N. investigators, headed by jurist Richard Goldstone, accused Hamas of firing rockets indiscriminately at Israeli civilians. The U.N. report also said Israel used disproportionate force and deliberately targeted civilians. Some 1,400 Gazans were killed, among them hundreds of civilians, as well as 13 Israelis.

During the war, Gaza militants fired some 800 rockets and mortar shells into Israel, killing three Israeli civilians and wounding about 80. The attacks forced hundreds of thousands of Israelis to seek protection in bomb shelters.

Hamas wrote to the U.N. that its primitive rockets were not intended to hit civilians, but often strayed from their course. Hamas said the rockets were meant to defend Gazans against Israeli military strikes, but also maintained that the Palestinians have a right to resist Israeli occupation.

“We apologize for any harm that might have come to Israeli civilians,” the Hamas government wrote.

On Saturday, the government claimed the response to the U.N. was misinterpreted.

“The report that was submitted regarding the Goldstone report does not include any apologies and what took place was an incorrect interpretation of some of its wording,” the government said in a statement.

The government did not attempt to explain the contradiction and Hamas officials declined comment.

Hamas likely came under domestic pressure after news of the apology became public, said Gaza analyst Naji Sharrab. “They are addressing two different audiences,” Sharrab said of Hamas.

Hamas militants have maintained an informal truce with Israel since the war ended in January 2009, but smaller Palestinian groups continue to sporadically fire salvos.

Gaza militants have been firing rockets at Israeli border towns since 2002.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas repeatedly urged Hamas to halt the attacks, saying they are counterproductive and harm Palestinian interests.

Abbas’ Fatah movement, which lost Gaza to Hamas in 2007 and now holds power only in the West Bank, said Saturday the apology was proof Hamas had erred.

“With this apology, Hamas acknowledged that these rockets and this kind of resistance does not serve the Palestinian interest,” Fatah said in a statement.

Israel rejected Hamas’ initial apology. Human rights researchers said most of the rockets fired from Gaza hit civilian areas in Israel, suggesting Hamas deliberately targeted civilians.

Hamas and Israel handed over their reports to the U.N. last week, after the U.N. General Assembly urged both sides in November to investigate their actions during the Gaza war.

Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the war crimes allegations.

On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon refused to pass judgment on the reports, saying “no determination can be made on the implementation of the resolution by the parties concerned.”

The U.N. chief was criticized by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, which said he sidestepped his responsibility by avoiding judgment.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza said neither Israel nor Hamas made a sufficient effort to investigate the allegations. The group said the U.N. Security Council should now refer the matter to the international criminal court.

Associated Press writer Diaa Hadid contributed to this report from Jerusalem.