Hamas says it’s prepared for escalation that could last months

Hamas says it’s prepared to keep fighting, even if the current round of violence with Israel goes on for months.

Hamas co-founder and senior official Mahmoud A-Zahar tells the group’s television channel, al-Aqsa, that rocket attacks on Israel will stop only if Israel abides by its conditions, namely ending the blockade on the Palestinian enclave and releasing 56 Hamas members freed in the 2011 prisoner exchange deal for Gilad Shalit and re-arrested in the West Bank during an 18-day operation in search of the kidnappers of three Israeli teenagers abducted on June 12 and found murdered on June 30.

Hamas says the arrests are a “red line” and cannot be overlooked.

The group’s leadership has gone underground since the start of Operation Protective Edge on Monday for fear of targeted assassinations.