Alwaght- Palestinian Hamas resistance movement downplayed recent threats by the Israeli minister of war describing it as “worthless”.
The resistance group says the threats were just a new instance of an old series of similar threats by those who are “all dead now”.
During an interview with the Palestinian al-Quds newspaper published on Monday, Avigdor Lieberman said he would "completely destroy" Gazans in any future conflict with the Gaza Strip.
Lieberman also made a series of controversial remarks during the interview, such as a death threat against Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and also about Hamas’ disarming.
The military capabilities of Hamas including” the tunnels, rockets and weapons are legitimate resistance to Israel's occupation,” the Hamas spokesman Hazem Kassem said.
Other Hamas officials including Fathi Hammed also condemned the remarks as empty threats that will make no change in the determination of the resistance.
“Neither Lieberman nor others; all previous defense ministers have threatened us and all of them have died. The last of them is (Shimon) Peres who is resting in the tombs of hell. So we are in no way afraid and this is a powerful message from Gaza to Lieberman,” Fathi Hammed said.
The Palestinian Ministry of information also censured the remarks by the “murderer” Lieberman and said the threats were just to get a platform.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the remarks in a statement saying "Lieberman is trying to subtly drive a wedge between the Palestinian people, the Palestinian leadership and repeats his attacks on (President of the Palestinian Authority) Mahmoud Abbas like a broken record. He is deluding himself that he has the ability to find a Palestinian partner for peace that suits his own views," it read.
The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and poverty.
Israel has also launched several wars on the Palestinian sliver, the last of which began in early July 2014. The 50-day military aggression, which ended on August 26, 2014, killed thousands of Palestinians and injured many more..
