Hamas condemns Israel airstrikes on Gaza, says resistance will defeat aggression

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has strongly denounced the latest Israeli airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, saying the ongoing aggression is doomed to failure due to the steadfastness and resistance of the Palestinian nation.

“The resistance front will remain the protective shield of our people. The ongoing aggression is bound to fail in the face of our people’s revolution, steadfastness and resistance,” Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman, said in a statement on Monday morning.

It came after the Israeli military carried out a new round of airstrikes on the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave.

“The Zionist bombardment of Gaza coincided with acts of aggression against Nablus and al-Quds, confirming that we are facing a campaign of hostilities against our entire nation. We salute the fighters of the al-Qassam Brigades, who repelled the Zionist enemy’s raids on the Gaza Strip, and confused the Occupation army and its settlers,” Qassem said.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it targeted in the early hours of Monday morning a Hamas underground facility, alleging that," the resistance movement used for the production of rocket materials in the central Gaza Strip."

It further claimed that the airstrikes were in response to a rocket launch from the Palestinian enclave on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, rocket warning sirens blared in southern Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip, including Sderot and Kibbutz Nir Am. Alerts also sounded in Kibbutz Ruhama, located about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) east of Sderot.

The Palestinian Shehab news agency reported that Israeli military aircraft launched 10 raids on a “resistance site” west of Gaza City. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The report added that the strikes led to huge explosions, which caused material damage to residential buildings.

The Israeli military artillery units also targeted two monitoring points, one east of Beit Hanoun and another east of Khan Yunis.

MG