Gaza municipality rejects Israeli rocket claim

The Municipality of Gaza City rejected an Israeli claim on Wednesday that it had allowed Palestinian resistance groups to use municipality-owned land to launch rockets towards the occupation state.

“We reject this incitement by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Municipality of Gaza City which provides civil society services to local residents,” said the Mayor of Gaza City, Dr Yahya Al-Sarraj. “The municipality is a long-standing national institution of a civilian nature.”

Al-Sarraj called for regional and international bodies to condemn Israel for this “incitement”, and reminded them that the Gaza Strip has been under a strict Israeli siege for more than 16 years. He also condemned the Israeli ban on the import of basic tools used by municipalities in the provision of basic services to their local residents.

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The mayor made his comment following a claim by the spokesman of the Israeli occupation army, Avichai Adraee, that the municipality allowed Islamic Jihad to use its land to launch rockets towards Israel in response to the latest Israeli offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza. During the three-day military offensive between 5 and 8 August, 49 Palestinians were killed by the Israelis, including 17 children and four women, and 360 others were wounded.