Hamas claims to arrest two Gazans who fired rockets at Israel
Palestinian factions have agreed to coordinate actions against Israel and were unconnected to the missiles, terror group says, after attack last week following Israeli elections
The Hamas terror group that rules Gaza arrested two people over firing rockets at Israel last week, a source in the Palestinian enclave told AFP.
The Israel Defense Forces said rockets were launched Thursday from Gaza, the first such military action since three days of cross-border fighting in August.
The incident prompted Hamas’s internal security services to detain two people “directly related to the firing of four rockets,” said a Hamas official who requested anonymity.
“The Palestinian factions have nothing to do with these rockets, which are aimed at giving the occupation [Israel] an excuse for continuing the aggression,” the source told AFP.
The rocket fire was not claimed by any of the armed factions operating in Gaza, which has been ruled by Hamas since 2007.
It came hours after former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was declared the winner of the November 1 elections, and after an Islamic Jihad gunman was killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank.
The Hamas source did not detail the affiliation of those arrested, adding that the rockets fired were not loaded with explosives.
Palestinian factions have an agreement to coordinate “any response to Israeli aggression,” he told AFP.
Israel launched retaliatory strikes Friday on Gaza, which the army said hit a rocket production site belonging to Hamas.
Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been under a crippling Israeli-led blockade imposed since Hamas took power and aimed at preventing the terror group from arming itself.
The Israeli military and Hamas have fought four wars over the past 15 years.
