Hamas ends truce after beachside shelling .....

Islamic militant group Hamas has
called off a 16-month-old truce with Israel after attacks blamed on
Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians, including three children playing on
a beach. 

Israel's army, which had been
shelling northern Gaza to curb rocket fire by militants, says it is
investigating the deaths. 

Hamas, sworn to destroying the
Jewish state, vowed to revive a campaign marked by suicide bombings that
it put on hold well before winning elections that gave it control of the
Palestinian Government in March. 

Renewed violence could bury
Western hopes of pressuring Hamas to soften its stand and raise questions
over a referendum that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas planned on a
statehood proposal implicitly recognising Israel. 

"The Israeli massacres
represent a direct opening battle." Hamas's armed wing said in a
statement echoed by its political leaders. 

"The earthquake in the
Zionist cities will resume and the herds of occupiers have no choice but
to prepare the coffins or the departing luggage." 

There was no immediate comment on
Hamas's announcement from Israel or from Mr Abbas, locked in a power
struggle with the Islamists. 

Israel regularly shells parts of
the northern Gaza Strip used by militants to fire rockets over the border. 

An Israeli Army commander says he
regrets any civilian deaths.