Entire occupied lands will turn into battlefield: Hamas responds to Israeli threats against Gaza

The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has responded to new Israeli threats against the besieged Gaza Strip, warning that the entire occupied territories will be turned into a battlefield in case Gaza comes under attack.

The Hamas’s response came after two separate explosions rocked the holy city of al-Quds earlier this week, for which the regime holds the group responsible.

“Returning to the assassination policy will trigger the flame of a new massive wave of retaliatory operations, in addition to the explosion of the Gaza Strip in the face of the occupying regime,” Lebanese Arabic-language daily newspaper al-Akhbar cited Hamas as saying in a message passed to Israeli officials through an Egyptian mediator.

Israeli authorities announced that the regime was “to resume targeted assassinations if a link between the bombing and Hamas was revealed.”

Al-Akhbar noted that the Palestinian resistance movement had reinforced its forces to be ready for any possible Israeli act of aggression.

Read more:

• Hezbollah hails 'heroic' al-Quds operations, says it shows rejection of Israeli occupation

Meanwhile, the Israeli Hebrew-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth wrote that, “Currently, there is no information about Hamas's connection to the bombing in Jerusalem (al-Quds), but [the regime's so-called internal security service] Shin Bet had undermined plans for past bombings mostly run directly from the Gaza Strip.”

At the same time, Shin Bet warned that Israel would never allow exploitation of measures to ease the siege imposed on the coastal sliver by Palestinian factions.

On Wednesday's twin blasts, which hit bus stops at the occupied West Bank city of al-Quds's western exit, two Israelis were killed and 22 others were injured.

The explosions came hours after 16-year-old Palestinian teenager, Ahmad Amjad Shehadeh, was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

He was shot with a bullet in the heart during a raid by Israeli military forces in Nablus.

At least five other Palestinians were injured after being shot with live ammunition and stun grenades, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, including one in serious condition with a bullet to the stomach.

Read more:

• One Israeli dead, multiple wounded, as two blasts rock bus stations in occupied al-Quds

Israeli forces have recently been conducting overnight raids and killings in the northern occupied West Bank, mainly in the cities of Jenin and Nablus, where new groups of Palestinian resistance fighters have been formed.

Since the start of 2022, Israeli troops have killed more than 200 Palestinians, including more than 50 children, in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds as well as the besieged Gaza Strip.

According to the United Nations, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel in the occupied West Bank this year is the highest in 16 years.

Local and international rights groups have condemned Israel’s excessive use of force and “shoot-to-kill policy” against Palestinians.

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