Hamas raps US for blacklisting movement’s members

Gaza-based Palestinian resistance group Hamas has criticized the United States for putting three of its senior members on Washington’s terror list.

The Palestinian resistance movement on its Twitter account on Tuesday deprecated the US move as “immoral and against international law,” slamming Washington for “backing Israeli terrorism.”

Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that the US decision will not prevent the resistance group “from succeeding in our national duty of protecting our people and liberating Palestine.”
Earlier in the day, the State Department said two Hamas leaders, namely Yehia Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha, as well as Mohammed Deif, a military commander, had been named “specially designated global terrorists” under US law.

‘Green light to kill’

Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian resistance movement based in the Israeli blockaded Gaza Strip, also slammed the US decision, saying the moves gives the Tel Aviv regime the green light to kill the Hamas members.

“Adding [Hamas] resistance leaders on the so-called ‘terrorism list’, gives Israel the green light to pursue and assassinate them,” the movement said in a statement.

Sinwar and Mushtaha were appointed as the political leaders of Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip in 2012 after they were freed from an Israeli jail in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.

During an exchange deal in 2011, Shalit was swapped with over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli soldier had been held in the besieged Gaza Strip for more than five years.

Deif has been a commander of Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, since 2002 and has long been a target for Israeli assassination.

The Hamas commander lost his wife and son in the latest Israeli aggression against the blockaded area last summer.