Hamas on Thursday slammed comments by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas advocating security cooperation with Israel. As far as the terrorist group is concerned, “all options are open in dealing with Israeli aggression.”
At a press conference in Gaza, Hamas spokesperson Sami abu Zuhri said that the “Palestinian resistance has a legitimate right to do anything necessary to free its land and its holy places, the Palestinian people and the prisoners.”
In the wake of the kidnapping of the three Israeli teens - Eyal Yifrah (19), Naftali Frenkel (16), and Gilad Sha'ar (16) - last week, Israel has vowed to deliver a “crushing blow” to Hamas' infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.
“Without regard to who is responsible for the action in Hevron in which three settlers were kidnapped, we stress that we have the right to provide assistance to alleviate the suffering of the prisoners, and to work to free them from the opposition's prisons,” Zuhri said.
“The occupation is taking advantage of what is happening in Hevron to destroy Hamas in the West Bank and to destroy the agreement between Hamas and Fatah," Zuhri added.
The Hamas spokesperson warned Israel not to exile Hamas leaders arrested in Judea and Samaria to Gaza. Doing this, he said, “will unleash the fires of hell on the occupation.”
Although Hamas in Gaza has still not officially taken responsibility for the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers nearly a week ago, the Islamist group has repeatedly lauded their abduction, arranging public celebrations in Gaza, encouraging Arabs in the Hevron region to disrupt the IDF's search operation, and even lashing out at Abbas for ostensibly condemning the kidnapping.
IDF sources on Thursday revealed that Hamas leadership in Turkey might actually be behind the abduction.
Speaking during an interview on Hamas's official Al Quds TV station, Muhammad Nazal - a member of the group's "political wing" - hailed "the heroic capture operation".
During the interview, which took place on Monday, Nazal claims the abduction "marked a milestone in the history of... the Palestinian struggle - a struggle that is filled with such heroic operations", as it "hunted, all at once, three from among the settlers' herd and Israeli soldiers".