Hamas Indicates They Are Not Interested In Another War With Israel

Photo/AP

A Turkey-based member of Hamas’ political bureau said the militant movement has no interest in opening a new war against Israel, after a rocket was fired on Friday from the Gaza strip barely four months after the end of Protection Edge.

Saleh Arouri said in an interview published Monday by Hamas-affiliated site Arsalanet that “we won’t initiate a war with the enemy, but if Israel coerces war on us, we will fight and surprise.”

“The pressure on Palestinians in Jerusalem led to an outbreak of rage, and continuing the siege will lead to a renewal of rage,” he said.

On Friday, after two months of relative quiet, rockets fired from Gaza landed in the Eshkol Regional Council. The IAF responded with a single strike on Hamas infrastructure in Gaza. Hamas then issued a statement warning Israel against continued attacks and called on the international community to stop Israeli “aggression against the Palestinian people.”

Hamas repeatedly told Israel on Saturday that it was not looking for an escalation in the Gaza Strip and would work to quell rocket attacks, the Palestinian al-Quds news site reported. “We are interested in upholding the agreements that were reached, because there are priorities that must be kept at this point,” Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk was quoted by Israel Radio as saying.

On Monday, the IDF said it has detected experiments in the Gaza Strip, in which Hamas fired rockets from Gaza towards the Mediterranean Sea.

Adnan Abu Aamer, a political science professor at Al-Umma University in Gaza, insisted that “Hamas movement wants to send a message that its military capabilities are still strong.”

“They are doing experiments and checking their rockets. This is a part of their domestic weapons production. We did not doubt, at the end of the war, that their focus would be on building more weapons. We monitor every such launch, noting the quality of the rocket and its range,” a senior navy source told The Jerusalem Post after the summer conflict with Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel will not ignore the firing of even a single rocket from Gaza and that Hamas would bear responsibility for future attacks. “Israel’s safety comes first. I won’t allow even one rocket, and that is why the IAF responded to the rocket and destroyed a cement factory that was making cement to repair tunnels that were hit during Operation Protective Edge,” Netanyahu said during a Menorah lighting ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. “Hamas will be held responsible for every escalation. We will protect Israel’s safety.”