Gaza ready to confront Israeli attack

17/01/2011

In separate statements, Palestinian resistance movements each reiterated their firm resolves to wage resistance against potential Israeli attacks.

The fresh stance comes days after Israeli military officials threatened to launch a new war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

On Saturday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri slammed the war-mongering remarks as "empty words", stressing that Palestinians were not afraid of such intimidations.

Meanwhile, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine has warned that armed Palestinian groups will confront Israel if its attacks on Gaza continue.

The remark was made by Abu Ahmed, an Al-Quds Brigades spokesman on Saturday.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has also lent voice to the resistance, underlining that the group was prepared to defend the Gaza Strip against any possible Israeli aggression.

The warnings come only three days after members of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, held a meeting to discuss the security situation in the Gaza Strip.

During the Wednesday meeting, the Palestinian factions vowed to do "their best" to foil any attempt by Israel "to carry out an aggression on their people."

According to the Palestinians, Israel is attempting to provoke violence in the region by stepping up attacks along the so-called Israeli-Gaza buffer zone.

Over the past months, Israel has intensified its attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing a number of Palestinians and leaving many more injured.

Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip at the turn of 2009, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians in three weeks of unrelenting land, sea and airstrikes on the densely populated coastal sliver.