The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has played down the Israeli military chief’s recent threat of another war on the Gaza Strip in response to a new wave of anti-Israel demonstrations there, saying such remarks serve mere propaganda purposes.
“Such threats will never frighten our people, and our people will continue to fight in various ways to have all their demands fulfilled,” Hamas spokesman Abd al-Latif Qanou said in a statement.
The border fence separating Gaza from the Israeli-occupied territories has witnessed days of Palestinian demonstrations against the Tel Aviv regime.
Reacting to the recent protests, Israeli military chief Aviv Kohavi threatened on Monday night that more demonstrations would be led to a “strong response or operation.”
“We have improved our attack capability in the Gaza Strip and our operational plans and if quiet isn’t preserved in the south, we won’t hesitate to set out on another campaign,” Kohavi warned.
Qanou, however, said the claims were meant “for media consumption,” and that the Israeli military was still grappling with the repercussions of Operation Sword of al-Quds, which Gaza-based resistance factions launched in May in defense of Israeli-occupied al-Quds and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
“The upshot of the battle fought by the resistance is still resonating among the ranks of the Zionist regime’s shaky army, and its forces are suffering from the consequences,” the Hamas official said.
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Operation Sword al-Quds saw the Gaza-based resistance fighters fire more than 4,000 rockets at the occupied territories, paralyzing life in much of the territories and raising serious questions about the performance of the regime’s so-called Iron Dome missile system.
Caught off guard by the great progress in the resistance movement’s military capabilities, the regime rushed to unilaterally call for a ceasefire after just 11 days.
On Monday, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated on the border between the Gaza Strip and the occupied lands for the third straight night to condemn Israel’s 2007-present crippling blockade and repeated acts of aggression.
Gazans set tires alight and rolled them toward Israeli soldiers stationed along the fence near the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said three Palestinians were wounded from Israeli troops’ live fire, while three more suffered tear gas inhalation.
The siege on Gaza has inflicted severe hardship on residents. The poverty rate among the Strip’s population has reached 53 percent, while “extreme poverty” stands at 33.8 percent, according to statistics by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
About 68 percent of families do not have enough to eat, while 80 percent of Gazans are dependent on aid. The area’s unemployment rate stands at 45.1 percent, according to PCBS.
