Hamas militants attend the funeral of members of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip March 22, 2018.. (photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)
X ![]()
Dear Reader,
As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
As one of our loyal readers, we ask you to be our partner.
For $5 a month you will receive access to the following:
- A user experience almost completely free of ads
- Access to our Premium Section
- Content from the award-winning Jerusalem Report and our monthly magazine to learn Hebrew – Ivrit
- A brand new ePaper featuring the daily newspaper as it appears in print in Israel
Help us grow and continue telling Israel’s story to the world.
Thank you,
Ronit Hasin-Hochman, CEO, Jerusalem Post Group
Yaakov Katz, Editor-in-Chief
UPGRADE YOUR JPOST EXPERIENCE FOR 5$ PER MONTH Show me later
Hamas is not interested in another war in the Gaza Strip, but it will not be up for grabs to Israel, a senior Hamas official said on Saturday.
Osama Hamdan, Hamas’s representative in Lebanon who is in charge of his movement’s “international relations,” warned that Israel would “pay a heavy price if it chose to launch an aggression on the Gaza Strip.” Israel, he added, “will not be able to devour us and the price will be higher and more horrific than its leaders can imagine.”
Hamdan’s remarks came as United Nations Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Jamie McGoldrick, arrived in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. It was not clear whether the UN envoy would hold talks with Hamas leaders on the ongoing efforts to achieve a truce with Israel.
Sources in the Gaza Strip said that Egypt and the UN were concerned about the renewed tensions along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, especially in wake of last Friday’s violence in which three Palestinians were killed in clashes with the IDF.
Hamdan said that Hamas was interested in solidifying the 2014 truce agreement that was reached between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist factions in the Gaza Strip. “But this does not mean that we are not capable of defending our people against another [Israeli] aggression,” he added.
Hamdan, in statements published by the Gaza-based Falasteen newspaper, revealed that Egypt has invited Hamas officials to visit Cairo, but did not say when the visit would take place.
However, he denied that Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip would hold another round of talks in Cairo to discuss Palestinian “national reconciliation” and a truce with Israel.
JPOST VIDEOS THAT MIGHT INTEREST YOU:
The Hamas officials said that Egyptian and United efforts to achieve a truce with Israel were moving a very low pace because of obstacles placed by the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas. “We are determined to overcome the obstacles, though it may take time,” Hamdan said.
He accused the PA of bing complicit in the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip. “No one can be complicit in the Israeli blockade and at the same time claim to be patriotic,” Hamdan said, referring to the PA and Abbas.
Representatives of Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction dismissed the Hamas charges regarding the economic and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. “The Palestinian Authority can’t accept a situation where the Gaza Strip remains forever hostage in the hands of Hamas,” said Majed Fityani, Secretary-General of the Fatah Revolutionary Council.
He told the Al-Watan Voice website that Hamas will have to “pay the bill” if it wants to wants to collect taxes in the Gaza Strip and control the border crossings. “Hamas will be committing a crime if it thinks that it can meet the demands of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip separately from the frame of the Palestinian leadership,” he added.
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>
Comments are closed.