Palestinian Media Watch's Itamar Marcus reports that Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Abbas' Advisor on Islamic Affairs and Supreme Sharia Judge, delivered a sermon on Friday from the PA headquarters in Ramallah, in the presence of Mahmoud Abbas. He accused Hamas of deliberately encouraging civilians to endanger themselves: "You Palestinians, our people, go and die so that we'll go to the TV and media with strong declarations."
Al-Habbash claimed the Palestinian population are not being fooled by Hamas anymore, and "sides with the PLO."

"The Palestinian people... doesn't care about those [Hamas] with 'the emotional stories of heroism,' those with the slogans of heroism - slogans that when you hear them, you think that the people saying them are inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque after they liberated it. And afterwards you discover that they're only selling illusions, trading in suffering and blood, trading in victims, [saying]: 'You Palestinians, our people, go and die so that we'll go to the TV and media with strong declarations.' These [Hamas] acts of 'heroism' don't fool anyone anymore. The Palestinian people... sides with the PLO," said al-Habbash.

While Abbas' advisor was criticizing Hamas for sending Palestinians to their death, Abbas' Fatah Movement celebrated the participation of an infant in the Gaza demonstrations. Fatah posted a photo of a six-month-old baby who had been placed on a pile of tires. The tires would eventually be burned at the Gaza demonstrations, reported PMW.

Hamas trains for confrontation with Israel
Hamas trains for confrontation with IsraelReuters