Former Israeli chief of staff: Al-Qassam fighters ‘courageous’

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz has described Wednesday Hamas’s armed wing fighters as “courageous.”

“We must be honest and say that we fought against brave men,” Gantz said during an interview with Israeli TV Channel 2 News on the first anniversary of the Israeli summer aggression on Gaza.

“To run up and try to put an explosive charge upon a tank is the act of courageous people,” he added.

The latest conflict in Gaza was the most ruinous of three recent wars, killing more than 2,147 Palestinians, including 530 children and 302 women. Another 11,000 were wounded, and some 100,000 people remain homeless.

The aggression began on July 7 when Israel fired hundreds of missiles at Gaza Strip, destroying dozens of residential buildings and civilian homes.

For its part, Palestinian resistance responded by firing heavy barrages of rockets towards Israeli border areas and carried out unprecedented operations against Israeli military targets.