Al-Qassam Brigades: 'Israel's incursion into Gaza is an opportunity to raise number of dead Israeli soldiers and captives'

Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, warned on Thursday that any Israeli land incursion into the Gaza Strip: “Will be an opportunity for increasing the number of dead soldiers and prisoners among the ranks of the Israeli army.”

Abu Obayda, a spokesperson for the brigades, asserted in a statement: “In light of the enemy’s threat to launch a land operation, we say that any ground incursion into any area in the Gaza Strip, God willing, will be an opportunity to increase our yield of the enemy’s dead soldiers and prisoners, and are ready to teach them harsh lessons.”

Al-Qassam Brigades is currently detaining four Israelis, including two soldiers, captured during the war on Gaza in the summer of 2014, while the other two entered Gaza in unclear circumstances.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli army summoned 7,000 reservists, TV7 Israel News reported.

Read: Israel launches air, ground and troops attack on Gaza

Later, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz confirmed that he authorised the mobilisation of 9,000 reserve soldiers, instead of 7,000, after conducting a security assessment, according to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

Channel 13 also reported that Chief of Staff of the Israeli army Aviv Kochavi cancelled leave for the active army forces.