Ahead of Friday protest, Palestinian terror groups threaten fresh violence

The military wings of Gaza-based Palestinian terror groups warned in a joint statement Sunday that Friday will be “decisive” in determining their response to the killing of four people during border protests and riots last week.

The groups declared that they had prepared retaliation steps, and that their use will be dependent upon Israel’s policy.

It will be “a decisive day in examining the Zionist enemy’s behavior and intentions toward our people in the March of Return,” the Sunday statement said, referring to weekly demonstrations and often-violent riots at the border with Israel, pushed by Hamas, the terror group that rules Gaza, since March.

“It seems like the enemy has been missing the rounds of violence and the powerful reactions of the resistance, which will discipline it and stop it in its tracks,” the groups said.

The deaths were “a total crime and clear recklessness by the Zionist enemy,” which has “crossed red lines,” they continued.

“Regarding these crimes, the resistance will not act lightly with the enemy and stand by idly,” the statement warned.

“No funds, electricity, or water can stop us from undertaking our duty,” the terror groups declared, referring to the benefits that were reportedly part of an unofficial ceasefire that ended a previous round of heavy fighting in November. “It appears the enemy misses the rounds of fighting and the harsh responses of the resistance.”

They also claimed that those who died during the clashes on Friday were shot between 300-600 meters (about 1,000-2,000 feet) from the border fence and did not pose a danger to IDF troops.

“This confirms there was a clear intention of shooting all the martyrs and wounded, who did not constitute any threat to the occupation soldiers,” the statement said. “On the contrary, they were demonstrating in a totally peaceful manner.”

Last Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had issued a warning to the rulers of the Strip, amid a spike in terror attacks in the West Bank. “I conveyed a clear message to Hamas — we won’t accept a situation of a truce in Gaza and terror in Judea and Samaria,” he told a cabinet meeting, using the biblical name for the West Bank.

Since March, Palestinians have been holding weekly protests on the border that Israel has accused Gaza’s Hamas rulers of using as a cover for attacks on troops and attempts to breach the security fence. Israel has demanded an end to the violent demonstrations along the border in any ceasefire agreement.

Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, openly seeks to destroy Israel.

The Israeli army says around 8,000 Palestinians gathered along the border on Friday, burning tires and launching rocks and incendiary devices at soldiers, which did not reach the troops. It said soldiers opened fire “according to operational procedures.”

Three Palestinians, including a 16-year-old, were reported killed Friday, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry A fourth Palestinian died after succumbing to wounds sustained in the protests, the Palestinian Safa news agency reported Saturday morning.

The ministry said 46 others were wounded. There were no casualties on the Israeli side.