Last update - 00:00 15/09/2007
Hamas security forces preparing for major IDF operation in Gaza
By The Associated Press
Hundreds of Hamas security forces trained Friday for a possible Israel Defense Forces incursion into the Gaza Strip, in their first extensive exercise since Hamas seized control of the coastal territory in June.
Senior Hamas official Nizar Rayyan said the group would kidnap Israeli soldiers if the IDF launched a major military incursion into the strip.
He added the group was better equipped to face an IDF incursion since it confiscated weapons from Fatah during its June takeover of the Gaza Strip.
"Your brothers, the sons of Hamas ... have the weapons that they claimed as booty from the war of cleansing (against Fatah) and will now fight the state of Israel with them," Rayyan said.
The Hamas-affiliated Popular Resistance Committees also held a military drill Saturday in Gaza City. "We will surprise the enemy with our ferocious fighting," said Abu Youssef, the group's spokesman.
Hamas troops training included firing automatic rifles and shoulder-held grenade launchers. Hamas has made statements that it is preparing for the possibility that Israel will launch a large military operation in the Gaza Strip in response to recent rocket attacks on southern Israel from the Strip.
Friday's drill was conducted in the northern Gazan town of Beit Lahiya, where Hamas forces wearing camouflage gear practiced shooting and taking cover. The troops also fired at an empty house, causing a large explosion and then kneeled to the ground shouting Allah Akbar, or God is great.
The military exercise was the first to which Hamas invited the media since violently overthrowing rival party Fatah. Fatah currently controls the West Bank under Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas who dissolved the previous Hamas-lead Palestinian unity government, naming a Western-backed Cabinet in its place.