Hamas warns it could 'surprise' Israel more than last Gaza war
“The resistance will startle the enemy [with] more than the surprises it had during the last war,” said Hamas’s senior representative, Salah Bardaweel.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHA Palestinian boy wearing the headband of Hamas' armed wing attends Friday prayers in Gaza City(photo credit: REUTERS)
Hamas said on Monday that it would surprise Israel more than it did during last summer’s military confrontation.“The resistance will startle the enemy [with] more than the surprises it had during the last war,” said Hamas’s senior representative, Salah Bardaweel.Bardaweel, who was speaking to Palestinian reporters in the Gaza Strip, said that while Hamas does not want a confrontation with Israel, it is not afraid of one.“Those who think that the resistance will collapse are living in an illusion,” he added.“Hamas won’t allow a situation where it is turned into a scapegoat of Zionist elections or accounts.”Referring to rising tensions between Hamas and Egypt, Bardaweel dismissed charges made by the Egyptian media against Hamas’s purported involvement in terrorist attacks in Sinai.He said that Hamas had no intention of initiating a confrontation with any Arab army.“We do not interfere in the internal affairs of any Arab country,” the Hamas official stressed. “All that’s being said in the Egyptian media are lies and fabrications.”Bardaweel claimed that Israel and the US were inciting Egypt to attack the Gaza Strip in the same way it launched air strikes on Islamic State bases in Libya.“This would be a crazy idea [to attack the Gaza Strip],” he said.
“We won’t allow anyone to attack us and we won’t remain silent if any Arab party does so.We are a free people who refuse to succumb. We didn’t fear the strongest army in the region and made it feel defeated after 51 days of fighting.”The Hamas official also accused the Palestinian Authority of driving a wedge between his movement and some Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.
