Damascus - The Deputy Chairman of Hamas' Damascus political bureau, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said in a interview with al-Arabiya television Wednesday that the organization would not fire rockets at Israel during the latter's temporary operations halt in the Gaza Strip.

Israel had said earlier it would hold fire in Gaza for three hours each afternoon to allow humanitarian aid in the Strip.

The temporary halt in attacks would start at 1 pm (1100 GMT) and end at 4 pm.

Israel is under international pressure to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where 680 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began operations in December.

Israel says its operations in Gaza are to stop Hamas rocket fire into Israeli territory. (dpa)