Hamas announced that its fighters were remaining on high alert in the Gaza Strip, pledging to retaliate against an Israeli sniper attack Wednesday that killed three members of its al-Qassam Brigades military wing. This comes despite efforts to establish a ceasefire and other Palestinian factions declaring commitment to a truce. Khalil al-Hayya, Hamass deputy leader in Gaza, said that the “resistance will respond to crimes of the occupation in an appropriate manner, at the right time and in the right place, in order to achieve freedom and lift the siege.” “We have the right to respond to occupation crimes and the deliberate killing of our people,” he said during the funeral of the slain Qassam Brigades members. Hayya’s remarks came despite efforts by Egypt and UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov to establish a new ceasefire. Contrary to previous occasions, Hamas did not announce a return to the ceasefire agreement, in a clear indication of complications in reaching calm. The movement initially refused to respond to mediation efforts and expressed intense anger at Israels deliberate violation of the ceasefire and killing of Qassam Brigade members, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. Hamas vowed to retaliate, they added. The Qassam Brigades, meanwhile, called on all other armed resistance groups “to remain on high alert and to be at their utmost readiness.” It deemed as “serious military escalation” Israel’s assassination of three of its fighters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had on Wednesday held security consultations on the situation in the Gaza Strip, which included Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Chief of Staff General Gadi Eizenkot, Shin Bet Head Nadav Argaman and national security officials. With the threat of military escalation rising, Mladenov arrived in Gaza and met immediately with the head of the Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh. After the meeting, neither Mladenov nor Haniyeh announced any agreement. But the Hamas leader then received a call from Egyptian General Intelligence Director Major General Abbas Kamel, who was in Washington to discuss with US officials the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Kamel asked Haniyeh to spare the coastal enclave a new war. Sources said efforts were moving toward a new truce.