Hamas accuses Israel of escalation to foil Palestinian unity

A senior Hamas official in Gaza said on Sunday that the ongoing Israeli escalation against the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is aimed at foiling Palestinian unity. Motheer Al-Masri was speaking at a mass rally in the northern Gaza Strip held in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike in Israeli jails for 54 days.

“The aggressive acts of the Israeli occupation will not impose a new reality,” he said. “It will only strengthen our unity and we will not give up on our resistance until our prisoners come home.”

He stressed that kidnapping parliamentarians and ministers in the West Bank is intended to undermine Palestinian reconciliation and unity, which is to be built on basic principles and rights.

With regards to the three missing Israeli settlers, Al-Masri said that this is still an Israeli narrative since none of the Palestinian factions has claimed responsibility. However, he called for all Palestinian factions to do their best to free the Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails. “The lives of the three Israelis is nothing compared with the life of the 5,000 Palestinian prisoners living in harsh conditions inside Israeli jails,” he insisted.