The Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement on Monday denied reports that it had decided to prevent any Palestinian groups from firing rockets into Israel from Gaza.

"We don't make such decision without agreeing with all the resistance factions in a national consensus," said Ihab al-Ghussein, spokesman for the Interior Ministry of the Hamas government, which holds sway in the Gaza Strip.

"The factions have the right to respond to any Zionist crime using any sort of resistance and there is no lull with the (Israeli) occupation until the moment," he added.

He explained that his ministry's forces can intervene and stop the rockets "only when there is a national decision to stop them."

The disputed reports said that Hamas deployed its forces along the security fence that separates Israel and the Gaza Strip to chase down the rocket squads.

Hamas has been controlling Gaza since it routed security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

Last year, Egypt brokered a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel for six month. After the agreement ended in December, Israel launched a three-week offensive into Gaza and ended it in January 2009.

During the assault, Hamas showered the Israeli communities near Gaza with rockets but halted the attacks as soon as the war ended.