Israel Gaza attacks 'desperate attempt' to change equation in favor of occupier: Hamas

The Palestinian Resistance Movement, Hamas, says recent Israeli airstrikes and artillery attacks against various positions across the besieged Gaza Strip are a foolish and desperate attempt to “change the equation” in favor of the occupying regime.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem during a press briefing on Sunday said that continuous “Zionist campaign of terror” against the Palestinian people was a stupid effort to claim victory.

“The Zionist bombing of the Gaza Strip at dawn Sunday and terrorizing the peaceful population reflect the non-stop Zionist aggression on our Palestinian people.”

Emphasizing that the Zionist regime's campaign of terror against the Palestinian people "is a stupid attempt to claim victory," the Hamas official added, “This will not happen because our people will continue their struggle until they recover their full rights.”

An observation post belonging to the Gaza-based resistance movement of Hamas, located in Beit Hanoun’s An-Nayema street, was targeted by Israeli warplanes early on Sunday.

Local sources said that "Israeli warplanes launched several airstrikes targeting at least five military and observation posts belonging to the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

The Israeli military claims the fresh airstrikes came in response to a rocket allegedly fired from Gaza, hitting an Israeli factory and causing warning sirens to sound in Ashkelan. The rocket is said to have caused material damages.

Israeli warplanes attack north of Gaza Strip

Israeli jet fighters have reportedly launched air raids against eastern Beit Hanoun in the north of the besieged Gaza Strip.

Last Sunday, the Israeli military attacked the Gaza Strip after rockets from the Tel Aviv-blockaded Palestinian territory targeted the “central” and “southern” parts of the occupied territories.

The chain of incidents came as the Israeli military has been put on high alert following the first anniversary of the regime’s assassination of Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad movement, another Gaza-headquartered resistance group.

The 42-year-old and his wife were killed in an Israeli aerial assault on his Gaza home on November 12 last year.

The atrocity was followed by a barrage of retaliatory rocket fire from the besieged coastal sliver.

Back then, the Islamic Jihad released a statement, pledging to continue in the footsteps of its assassinated commander to “complete the process of liberation of the entire beloved Palestine.”

“Our response will inevitably shock the Zionist entity,” the group warned.

The latest Israeli attacks also come as coronavirus continues to threaten the socioeconomic welfare of Palestinians living in Gaza as much as their health. The Palestinians there are bracing themselves for the worst as coronavirus infections continue to increase at a fast pace amid the crippling Israeli blockade.

Gaza has been under Israel’s land, air and sea blockade since 2006, which the international community consistently demands Israel to end.

Israel has committed eight large-scale military operations against Gaza, thousands of smaller bombardments and three large-scale wars in which thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed, tens of thousands badly wounded and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Gaza’s vital infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, power plants, generators, sewage facilities, water storage units, government buildings, media buildings and more have been bombarded.

In December last year, Hamas praised an announcement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch an investigation into war crimes committed by the Israeli regime in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a statement, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the court will launch a full investigation into war crimes in the Palestinian territories, expressing her satisfaction that there is a “reasonable basis" to probe into the situation in Palestine.

ICC to investigate Israel's war crimes in Palestinian territories

The International Criminal Court says it will launch a full investigation into war crimes in the Palestinian territories.

The US, a staunch ally of Israel, also claimed that the "unjustified inquiry" will "unfairly" target Tel Aviv.

Israel and the US have both refused to sign up to the ICC, which was set up in 2002 to be the only global tribunal trying the world's worst crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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