Boy burning Israeli flag the spotlight of Hamas graduation
Young Gaza cadets show off their skills after completing military training program sponsored by ruling terror group
Dozens of Palestinian on Sunday graduated from the Hamas terror group’s military training program in the Gaza Strip, displaying weapons, marching in military formation and burning an Israeli flag in front of crowds of cheering supporters.
The cadets showed off their hand-to-hand combat skills by breaking burning cement blocks with their bare hands at the Gaza City ceremony.
The graduates also staged a mock raid on an “Israeli” military post, in which Hamas forces captured the IDF position and replaced the Israeli flag with a Palestinian one.
A young boy wearing military fatigues then burned the Israeli flag in front of the audience for a dramatic end to the ceremony.
According to reports, the ages of the graduates ranged from young children to middle-aged adults.
Hamas, the Islamist terror group that runs the Gaza Strip, has managed to end a recent series of protests over a critical shortage of electricity with a security crackdown and aid from Qatar used to purchase more fuel.
The Sunday ceremony took place as international aid workers opened a new desalination plant in the Strip, bringing some relief to a territory where 97 percent of the water is undrinkable.
Conditions have greatly deteriorated over the past decade since Hamas, a militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction, took power. Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since the 2007 takeover, resulting in heavy damage to Gaza’s infrastructure, and an Israeli-Egyptian blockade has slowed reconstruction efforts.
Hamas, an Islamic terror group boycotted by most of the international community, did not participate in the desalination project, and was not represented at its unveiling on Thursday.
A Hamas military training site sits on part of the land allocated for the plant’s second phase. Mazen Ghunaim, head of the Palestinian Water Authority, said Hamas promised the site will be moved away in the coming days. The authority is one of the few bodies run by the rival West Bank-based Palestinian Authority that Hamas allows to operate in Gaza.
Other obstacles have included chronic electricity shortages and concerns that the plant could be hit if there is new fighting between Israel and Hamas.