Hamas official: 'Murderous Israeli regime' has killed 140 Palestinians since the beginning of year

A Hamas official has said the "murderous Israeli regime" has killed about 140 Palestinians, mostly children, since the beginning of this year. 

Khaled al-Qaddoumi, the representative of the Palestinian resistance movement in Iran, also denounced the West's silence over the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian nation. 

In an interview with Press TV on Thursday, al-Qaddoumi said the death toll of civilian martyrs has reached 139 to 40 martyrs today.

Qaddoumi said most of the victims of the recent Israeli attacks on residential areas in Gaza are children.

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He said targeting Hamas or targeting Islamic Jihad or targeting any Palestinian national should be responded to by the Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian Resistance Factions. 

And, today this Room has released a statement that they have taken revenge for the killing of the leaders in the Islamic Jihad movement, he added. 

Al-Qaddoumi said that the Palestinian resistance groups have also announced that they will continue their struggle and resistance.

“And what we have seen is that the Israeli crimes still continue and we should not be relaxed, or even trust the mentalities of the fanatic rightists’ criminal government, like [Benjamin] Netanyahu's government," he said. 

Al-Qaddoumi said the violence started during the mediation process after the killing of Sheikh Adnan after 86 days of hunger strikes.

And Egyptians and other parties were mediating not to escalate, he added. 

What happened was that Netanyahu launched a wide aggression against civilian targets and of course our brothers of resistance who happen to be from the Islamic Jihad, al-Qaddoumi said.

On Thursday the resistance launched about five hundred rockets from Gaza. Tens of these rockets showered down on Tel Aviv streets and led to the killing of Israelis, as well as injuring many of them.

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Al-Qaddoumi said it is not that the Israelis are targeting somebody and saving some others.

“This is the narrative used by Israelis to create some disunity between the Palestinians.  But actually, for us in Palestine, particularly in the resistance, we do not differentiate between the sacred blood of our people, whether they be from Islamic Jihad, Fatah, Hamas, or anyone who is standing in front of, and confronting the Israeli atrocities which have been continuous for over a century now," he said. 

Al-Qaddoumi urged the international community to step in and stop the Israeli atrocities as they promised.

What we are doing today is to tell the international community what you need is to do whatever you are saying to us, he said.

The international community and regional organizations have condemned the killing of Palestinians.

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Israeli regime's massacre of civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip was "unacceptable".

Al-Qaddoumi said they should stop using passive verbs while condemning the killing of our civilians by the Israeli regime.

“Who has killed them? They have to say that Israel is a murderer. Israel is a killer. And they have to carry out their responsibility, to take the Israelis to a court of justice," he noted. 

Today our people have declared that they are in the street to confront and defend themselves -- either from Hamas, Islamic Jihad or any other movement -- against Israeli aggression and crimes, he said. 

The Israeli regime announced that the Palestinian resistance has launched hundred of retaliatory rockets at the occupied territories, some passing through Israel’s Iron Dome and hitting targets in Tel Aviv and Ashkelon. 

Since Netanyahu returned to power late last year, the Israeli regime has become more violent.

Israel recently killed several top commanders of the Palestinian resistance.

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