Hamas rules out Israeli war on Gaza

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has ruled out the likelihood of another Israeli offensive against the blockaded Gaza Strip in the near future.

“I don’t think that there is a war knocking at our doors because the Israeli enemy was taught a great lesson,” Haniyeh said on Saturday, referring to the last Israeli war.

He added that Israeli threats to launch a new conflict on the coastal strip were psychological warfare, Ma’an news agency reported.

Haniyeh made the remarks during a mass wedding ceremony held for those injured in the last war on Gaza.

The Israeli military launched a deadly assault on the besieged Gaza Strip at the turn of 2009, killing at least 1,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injuring thousands more.

Several high-ranking Israeli officers have recently warned about launching a new war in the region.

In an interview with the Israeli news website Ynet last month, Israeli commander Eyal Eisenberg warned that the next war on Gaza would be “more painful, complex, and powerful.”

The Palestinian movement of Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after it won the last Palestinian legislative elections.

Following the victory, the coastal sliver has been under Israeli siege. The 1.5 million people of Gaza are in dire need of basic humanitarian supplies.