Hamas marks year since ‘victory’ against Israel
Interior minister calls on Palestinians to unite to 'uproot the Jews,' and says 'a third intifada is coming'
Thousands of Hamas security men staged a military parade in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in a massive show of force marking the anniversary of an eight-day battle last year against Israel, which the Israeli army refers to as Operation Pillar of Defense.
Despite suffering heavy losses, the Islamic group has claimed victory and vowed Wednesday to continue its violent struggle against Israel.
Hamas’s Interior Minister Fathi Hamad, who commands the security forces in the coastal Palestinian strip, called on Arabs in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Israel to unite in a holy war to “uproot the Jews” from Israel.
“A third intifada is approaching,” he said, using the term for past Palestinian uprisings against Israel. “Liberation is coming and victory is coming.”
After weeks of rocket ire from the Gaza Strip against southern Israel, the IDF assassinated Hamas’s military commander, Ahmad Jabari, on November 14, 2012. Over the next week, Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes on militant targets, while Hamas and other armed groups fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.
In all, 161 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, were killed, while five Israelis died. Israel said that most of the Palestinian fatalities were involved in the rocket fire or other terrorist activity, and that most of the civilian fatalities were hit inadvertently when close to rocket cells or other terrorist infrastructure.
The sirens of police cars sounded throughout the city during Wednesday’s parade, while military vehicles carried huge posters of Hamas leaders killed by Israel. Police men raised their assault rifles in tribute, and in an attempted show of unity, the forces displayed Palestinian flags, not green Hamas banners.
At an Israeli event Tuesday marking the anniversary, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed a 98 percent decrease in rocket attacks from Gaza, saying Israel had achieved the deterrence objective during the 2012 offensive.
Israeli officials said that during the offensive, they were able to take out a significant number of Hamas’s Iranian missiles, and the Iron Dome defense system intercepted 85% of the rockets that endangered Israeli towns.
As part of the Egyptian-brokered truce ending the operation, Israel eased its blockade on the coastal enclave, but conditions deteriorated significantly after a military-backed coup ousted former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi.