Hamas, Islamic Jihad: Israel started war

Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements have charged Israeli occupation with starting war on Gaza and said that it should bear the consequences.

Official spokesman for Hamas Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement on Monday night that the “Zionist enemy” was the one that launched all kinds of aggression on the Palestinian people.

He mentioned in this regard attacks on Palestinian citizens in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and 1948 occupied Palestine and the raids on Gaza, adding that Israel was re-arresting ex-prisoners who were released in Wafa al-Ahrar deal, blockading Gaza, closing crossings, and pursuing systematic killing as a policy.

Barhoum said that Hamas did not start attacks, but rather Israel was the one that started a large-scale aggression, warning that Israel was playing with fire.

He said that the Palestinian people have launched a new intifada, which he called the Jerusalem intifada, in defense of the Palestinian people and their land and holy shrines.

For its part, Islamic Jihad said that Israel’s air strikes that killed nine Palestinians and wounded many others meant that it was declaring war on Gaza and should wait for the results.

Daoud Shihab, a spokesman for the movement, said on Monday that Palestinian resistance was committed to defending the Palestinian people in face of the Israeli “ferocious (military) campaign”.