• Published 00:00 15.09.07
  • Latest update 00:00 15.09.07

Hamas security forces preparing for major IDF operation in Gaza

Hamas official: We will fight Israel with confiscated Fatah weapons, kidnap soldiers if IDF invades.

By The Associated Press Tags: Hamas Gaza IDF

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.

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  • 16. 0 0
    #13, Oddvark...
    • Silvienne
    • 18.09.07
    • 17:41

    Lakshmi is talking - not shrieking and screaming - about Israel and Palestine because that is what the subject of these Talkbacks is. The subject of the articles and talkbacks is not Kashmir. Also, do not point to bad behaviour in Kashmir to justify what Israel is doing to the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Two wrongs - or hundreds of wrongs - are never going to make a right.

  • 15. 0 0
    Back to the days of Human sacrifice, with no results
    • Natallie Durson
    • 16.09.07
    • 06:27

    A large "operation" in Gaza will result in a large number of civilian casualties and also more IDF casualties than has been experienced on previous "operations". In exchange, the IDF will kill a number of Hamas members as well as destroy Hamas buildings and supplies. Once the operation is complete, the IDF will withdraw (or not) and within a few weeks Hamas will be stronger than ever. This is how it has ever been and will continue to be in such "operations".

  • 14. 0 0
    Israel provides fuel to Hamas
    • Yaacob
    • 16.09.07
    • 04:00

    I find it incredible that now, after Hamas seized arms from Fatah, it uses Israeli gasoline to drive vehicles it intends use against Israel and to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

  • 13. 0 0
    Lakshmi's connection
    • Oddvark
    • 16.09.07
    • 03:46

    Lakshmi is such an outspoken critic against Israel, constantly screaming, because she doesn't want people to stop and look and her country, and what it is doing to a region it occupies, Kashmir. http://www.mediamonitors.net/suliman1.html Amnesty International states that the brutality of this occupation "defies belief". That is why Lakshmi shrieks and screams at Israel. She doesn't want people to know who the real monsters are.

  • 12. 0 0
    #2 lakshmi
    • Lynn
    • 16.09.07
    • 03:34

    after the last ground invasion, I would think you would never say something so stupid. It is never going to be in the Pals best interest to follow Hamas into the hell they have already been through.

  • 11. 0 0
    3.jasmine murphy,your post if it is a response to my post 2
    • lakshmi
    • 16.09.07
    • 01:49

    is a non sequitur.

  • 10. 0 0
    Peace, Brothers
    • True Empathy
    • 16.09.07
    • 00:18

    The students of all propaganda schools should stop for a moment. Consider to stop all the messages which smear the opponents. If you sympathize with the Palestinian people, try to coin the best non violent strategy for a respectable internal order in the Palestinian towns and villages. The Israeli side should consider a similar respectable behavior, free of mythical claims, and free of ugly aggressions against the non-Israelis. If both people can establish a peaceful life for their citizens, they can easily agree on peace terms with the other people.

  • 9. 0 0
    Lakshmi
    • Jasmine Murphy
    • 15.09.07
    • 23:30

    You don't mind gambling with other people's blood. What actual connexion have you ever had with Gaza? Have you ever been there? Met someone from there? Do you know what the air smells like in Gaza?

  • 8. 0 0
    Brave Talk
    • Yoram
    • 15.09.07
    • 23:19

    The key point of the Hamas drill was their taking cover. That is the training they need.

  • 7. 0 0
    Ground invasion
    • cristo
    • 15.09.07
    • 23:05

    would mean? "Do not forget to bring your human shields" that helps to the "bravest warriors" of Moomooh, the ilah himself.

  • 6. 0 0
    why wasnt the training attacked from the sky??
    • vik
    • 15.09.07
    • 22:42

    IAF jets and attack chopers need to be airborne around the clock and attack any gathering in gaza. Let hamas all gather in the same location to train and then bomb the heck out of them. They cant train underground so they have to do it in the open or in large factories which should all be blown up in advance. How hard of a concept it this. YOu will as many of hamas as possible until they are all dead or those who are alive know better than to turn arms against israel.

  • 5. 0 0
    For how long are they going to hide?
    • Isaac A Olayinka
    • 15.09.07
    • 22:41

    For how long are the Hamas cowards going to hide? Do they know when IDF can take the decision to attack them? No wonder, Shakespeare said: 'Cowards die many times before their deaths' If they are real fighters, they dont need to attack and run, they should stand up and face the IDF. They are cowards, bloody cowards!

  • 4. 0 0
  • 3. 0 0
    Ridiculous IDF Response
    • Glenn
    • 15.09.07
    • 22:26

    What happened to war against terror. You watch these terrorists, all together, doing an exercize to fight IDF and IDF did nothing? You should have bombed the hell out of every one of them while training. Why wait for them to be behind buildings or their most popular...behind children. Israel is going to lose if we do not get some smart people running the show. This is RIDICULOUS!!!!!

  • 2. 0 0
    Quisling abbas had better hide,since a ground invasion would mean
    • lakshmi
    • 15.09.07
    • 21:06

    the end of him.Syed Erakat has publicly said that the strangulation of Gaza is going to affect the peace talks.He too knows how the Palestinians in the West Bank will view any ground invasion!As for the idf,they are good only when sitting behind tanks & bulldozers & air planes.A ground invasion,nah! They'll be slaughtered.That's why Olmert & Barak are hesitating.

  • 1. 0 0
    Why is Clickfool not giving his stamp of approval?
    • Mike
    • 15.09.07
    • 21:02

    I would expect Clickfool, from the comfort of his overstuffed armchair in Sussex, England, to support all actions of Hamas against Israel. Am I not right? Dumb-Click-Fool??