Hamas rebuilding rocket arsenal to counter potential Israel attack
The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, is rebuilding its rocket arsenal in order to be prepared to respond to any potential aggression by the Israeli regime.
Marwan Eissa, a commander of Hamas' military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said on Monday that the group is not seeking any conflict with Israel, but is making sure its forces “are reinforced in case of a confrontation.”
He added that the resistance movement, which governs the besieged Gaza Strip, is “continuing to make rockets.”
Hamas resorted to its rockets to defend the coastal enclave against Israeli attacks during the regime’s latest war on Gaza last summer.
Israel unleashed attacks on the Palestinian territory in early July 2014 and later expanded its military campaign with a ground invasion of Gaza. The war ended in late August that year. Nearly 2,200 Palestinians lost their lives and some 11,000 were injured in the attacks. Gaza Health officials say the victims included 578 children and nearly 260 women.
The Gaza Strip has been under a crippling Israeli siege since 2007. The blockade, which has cut off the territory from the outside world, has led to an economic and humanitarian crisis in the densely-populated enclave.
Israel not only defies international calls to lift the brutal siege, but also does not allow construction materials into Gaza.
Israelis indicted
On Monday, three Israelis were indicted for transferring goods into the Gaza Strip, with an Israeli court saying that their trade with a Palestinian merchant in the coastal sliver was worth millions of dollars.
The alleged business was done over the past two years, but intensified before and after last summer's Israeli assault.
According to a statement from Israel's Shin Bet security agency, the materials included iron plates, cement and steel cables, pipes, as well as electronic devices.
MR/NN/AS
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